Beyond the Grave
by DragonWolfStar
Summary: Harry falls through the veil saving Sirius, who, convinced that he isn't dead, finds a spell to bring him back. What the Order doesn't expect to find is a shinigami captain and two familiar recruits. Set after the Winter War.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer I own nothing but the plot. This will be the only disclaimer for this entire fic.

A/N I could not resist. I love both Bleach and Harry Potter, and plot bunnies have been bouncing around in my head for like two months now.

All chapters are beta-read by my sister, Someone Really Special. She'll leave notes as SRS occasionally.

Warnings Mild language. SPOILIERS for all Harry Potter books and up to whatever the most recent chapter is in Bleach. I keep myself updated on Bleach, and I will not hesitate to add stuff from the latest chapters if I feel it will fit the story.

Pairings There will be none for our main character, but there may be one or two on the side that may or may not be slash, and there is one established het pairing. Romance will only ever be in the background, though, never the main focus of the story!

* * *

Prologue

* * *

"Sirius."

Sirius ignored the concerned voice, instead focusing intently on his self-appointed task. The Black Family library was old, dark, and dusty, making searching through the crumbling books incredibly difficult. But he was determined. He had to find it, anything. He would not fail.

"Sirius."

Dust obscured his vision as the animagus drew a book from one of the many tall shelves in the library. He carefully balanced on the wheeled ladder, adjusting the thick tome under his arm and reaching for another. It came with thin threads of cobweb and another roiling cloud of dust. He secured it with the first and dropped off the ladder with a dull thud, landing on musty carpet of an indistinct shade that may or may not have once been pale blue.

"_Sirius," _the voice came sharply this time. Sirius would have continued to ignore it if not for the gentle, but firm grip on his arm. He pursed his lips and turned impatiently toward his best friend. He didn't want to hear the words that he would undoubtedly say, and was fully prepared to say so, but was stopped short by the expression on Remus's face. He took one look at the quiet concern that lined features already hardened by grief and the words caught in his throat.

"Sirius," the werewolf repeated, "it's been nearly a week since he fell… since he fell through the veil. Take a look at what you're doing to yourself. You haven't been eating, you haven't been sleeping, and I don't think you've even showered. You're a mess. Harry wouldn't want you to be wasting away like this, especially not for his sake. Sirius, he's gone. He's not going to come back. He's de…"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Remus Lupin," Sirius interrupted sharply. "You can't prove that he's... No one knows what the veil does! He's still alive, I know it! He wouldn't go out on us that easily, and I'm going to prove it. I'm going to find him." He clutched the books in his arms tightly, and sat at the nearest table. He all but tore the cover off the first book in his haste to resume his research.

Remus watched him silently, cursing himself for seeing that raw hope in Sirius's eyes, and being unable to draw his best friend, his pack mate, back to reality. As much as he needed to, he couldn't bring himself to tear that small bit of hope away. It broke his heart to know that, even if for only a little while, he would help to nurture that same hope, only for it to be destroyed later. He cursed himself for being too weak to help his friend. Most of all, he cursed himself for his own, tiny spark of hope that it would work; that Sirius would find a solution, and that Harry would come home. He sighed.

"Alright, Sirius. Where should I start?"

And as Sirius smiled a tiny smile for the first time since the incident at the Department of Mysteries, Remus felt his heart break once more.

* * *

Normally any room Sirius entered was loud, vibrant, and full of life. This had not been the case for the past eight days, however. The Black Family library had been all but silent, with only the faint rustling of pages accompanying the pair deep in their research. It was therefore understandable that Remus was considerably startled when a loud shout was all but torn from his partner's mouth.

"I found it!"

Remus froze, eyes wide. "What?"

Sirius ignored him, quill scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment. After a moment he stopped, slamming the book he was referencing shut and shoving the parchment in the werewolf's face. Remus eagerly took it…

…and was almost immediately disappointed.

"This doesn't prove anything."

"But it will! You'll see, watch!" The animagus scanned the room briefly before his gaze alighted on a small paperweight. He promptly grabbed it and prepared to cast the spell written on the parchment. His wand was practically quivering with its wielder's anticipation, and Remus feared that he'd blow something up in his excitement. With that in mind, he hastily said, "Calm down or let me perform the casting, Sirius, before you turn that paperweight into shrapnel."

Sirius took a few deep breaths, visibly forcing himself to calm. As soon as he could hold his wand steadily, he said the incantation. "_Comperio Substantia_!"

To Remus's complete disbelief, the paperweight started to glow. It was faint, almost too faint to see, but it was there. There was only one conclusion in his mind.

"We need to tell the Order."

* * *

Murmurs steadily rose in volume as the Order took in the news that there was a way to find their wayward savior, whom they had all previously believed dead, by the pair in front of them. Remus took it upon himself to explain.

"This spell, _Comperio Substantia_, is a spell that locates a person by their aura, or their basic essence, if you will. When cast properly, the spell will place a replica of the aura of the person you are trying to locate inside of any object you choose, though some will clearly be more practical than others…"

Sirius cleared his throat impatiently.

Remus ignored him. "This object will then glow, and the intensity of the glow will indicate how near or far your lost person is. We have, of course, tested this spell using ourselves, and then various people that frequent the manor, as the people we are trying to locate. Each experiment has met with astounding success. We are positive that this spell works, and we are equally sure that it can help us find Harry."

Snape scoffed, but no one bothered to acknowledge him.

"We have found that, when casting this spell with Harry in mind, the object still emits a faint glow. Logically, this means that he is indeed still alive, as he would have no aura for us to find otherwise." (1)

Dumbledore slowly nodded his head. "This… may work. Remus, Sirius, if you could make more of these for us, we will have each member of the Order carry one. I believe something inconspicuous, such as a necklace or a bracelet, may be prudent choices for the spell to be cast on."

He smiled. Hope for the light was not lost. The prophecy would be fulfilled.

* * *

Takeshima Ikuto (2) of the 10th division never thought anything unusual about the little pub in his assigned area, London. His only thought was that its shabby, old-fashioned appearance was the only even remotely familiar looking building in the area. This was understandable, as every building in Soul Society was generally old-fashioned, the only exception being the 12th Division. And Ikuto would be feeling really sorry for himself if he'd been assigned to the 12th Division long enough to be familiar with any sort of technology.

In any case, his mission had been long, he was tired, and the pub's somewhat familiar appearance was inviting. So he decided to take a break. Donning his gigai, he entered the pub known as the Leaky Cauldron.

His first impression was that the establishment was rather nice, if a little dirty. He settled himself down at the bar next to an unkempt looking patron and ordered a drink and some food. He paused when he saw the bartender's unusual clothing. Who wore robes like that these days, if ever? It was around then that he noticed that the bartender was not actually writing his order down, but was instead waiting semi-patiently while a quill was writing on a notepad on its own… in midair. The note then tore itself from the rest of the notebook and flew off to a room in the back. He stared.

"That'll be four sickles," the voice of the bartender made him jump, and he hastily pulled out a few bills. Seeing the man raise his brow he hurried to explain.

"I, uh, haven't had time to exchange these…? Is that alright?" He sincerely hoped it was, because he had absolutely no idea what a sickle was. The bartender just sighed and nodded.

"Just the once, mister…?"

"Takeshima."

"Right."

As he waited for his order, still slightly unnerved by the strange, floating quill and paper, he glanced around the bar. Drinks were filling themselves from pitchers levitating around the room, and one woman was debating loudly with another about which charms were the most useful. He paused as he felt a familiar reiatsu next to him and almost gave himself whiplash checking to make sure that, no, there was not really a captain sitting right next to him. He was relieved to find that instead, an unkempt patron was arguing with the bartender.

"I'm afraid, Mr. Fletcher, that I can't give you another drink until you've paid off the rest of your tab."

"Aw, c'mon, Tom! Jus' a quick pint? I… I'll even give you this for it!"

"I won't accept stolen jewelry Mr. Fletcher. Much less _enchanted_ stolen jewelry."

"But I didn't steal it! And it's just a small locater charm… it can be spelled off real quick."

The bartender, Tom, rolled his eyes. "And I'm sure whoever you're trying to find will appreciate you giving away the means to find him."

"But," and here Fletcher's voice lowered to a whisper, "it's _Harry Potter_. I don't think…"

Ikuto couldn't help himself. "But that's the captain's reiatsu!"

The man spun around to face Ikuto. "What? You… you know where 'e is?"

Ikuto froze. "I, uh… have to go. Bye!" He nearly tripped over his feet running out of the pub.

Shaking slightly, he decided to return to Soul Society a day or so early. He needed to report to the Head-captain… and, of course, to tell all his friends about the rest of it.

Magic! Who would have thought?

* * *

As irresponsible as Mundungus Fletcher was a majority of the time, he knew he couldn't ignore this. Muttering a quick goodbye to Tom, he apparated straight to Grimmauld Place. He needed to tell Dumbledore!

"You are sure about this?"

"Yes! The reiatsu coming from the necklace was Hitsugaya-taicho's."

* * *

1 week later

Hitsugaya was only slightly apprehensive as he made his way to the 1st Division. It was unusual to be called in without any of the other captains, but there was really nothing he could do about it, so why worry?

"Soutaicho."

"Hitsugaya-taicho," the soutaicho wasted no time in getting to the point. "One of your subordinates has come to me with an interesting report."

Hitsugaya only raised an eyebrow. He knew nothing about anything one of his division members would have done to gain the attention of the soutaicho. He merely waited for the rest of the explaination.

"Takeshima-san came to me a week ago with reports about the existence of magic, all of which have been confirmed to be true," the soutaicho shot him a sharp look, and the question died in his throat. "After hearing one of Takeshima-san's stories, two recruits came forward, and have provided us with a wealth of information. However, Takeshima-san also mentioned that one of these wizards was carrying a necklace spelled to find a person called Harry Potter. This necklace was emitting your reiatsu."

"That's not possible."

"It is. We have confirmed the match. You and Harry Potter are one and the same. We are not yet sure how, but that is not all. Harry Potter was, apparently, very important to wizarding society. The two recruits have told me of a prophecy regarding him… you. The best interpretation of this prophecy is that you will have to kill someone, Hitsugaya-taicho."

"But…"

"Prophecy is a very powerful thing, Hitsugaya-taicho. Not only that, but this wizard you will have to kill has somehow cheated death. This wizard, Voldemort, was meant to die nearly sixteen years ago, yet his soul is somehow still bound to the real world. As such, you are being given full permission to interfere in the living world for the duration of your mission. You are to head to England and establish contact with a group of wizards known as the Order of the Phoenix. You will work with this group to defeat this wizard, and, at the same time, you will be gathering information on the wizarding world."

Hitsugaya, barely remaining composed, muttered an affirmative.

"You are allowed to disclose what you deem necessary to this Order of the Phoenix."

"Hai…"

"Also, the two recruits that have provided me with information regarding wizards will be going with you to do the same for you, and to provide general aid."

Two shinigami came forward. Hitsugaya was unconcerned, having felt their reiatsu long before. He didn't recognize either of them.

"Hitsugaya-taicho, I would like you to meet Potter James and Lily."

* * *

(1) I found this incredibly ironic. The reason that the spell worked should be explained in chapter 1.

(2) He will not have any future role in this story. You don't have to worry about OC's in this fic for anything other than minor roles, and those will be few. There are certainly more than enough characters in Bleach and Harry Potter as it is.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N Here's chapter one! I managed to finish it all in one day, which is freaking amazing for me. Anyway, have fun reading and drop a little review at the end!

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

"You know, we'd always wondered what you'd be like, but we never expected you to be a captain! I wonder if…"

Hitsugaya tuned James out. Ever since they'd arrived at the Leaky Cauldron a few days ago he'd been talking almost nonstop. He wouldn't have minded if he'd been talking about the mission, or even anything remotely pertinent. James, however, and been insistent on talking about him, and asking questions that Hitsugaya felt he really had no right to ask. Fortunately, he'd been able to concentrate on the mission, which so far consisted of converting spells into ones workable with reiatsu.

Magic, they'd discovered, disappeared when you died. You were simply no longer able to use it. Reiatsu worked as an acceptable replacement, able to replicate any spell magic could cast… if you knew how. Therefore they'd taken it upon themselves to learn how so they could better blend in to wizarding society.

They'd also dyed James's hair. _White. _Apparently everyone knew the faces of James and Lily Potter, so they had needed disguises before they even set foot in the wizarding world. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to use modified gigai, because they wouldn't fit right. That would have been extraordinarily uncomfortable, and, as this was a long-term mission, they simply couldn't have annoyances like that in the back of their minds. So they'd used more normal methods. Hair dye and colored contacts were the most prominent.

It would have been fine if James hadn't insisted on dying his hair to match Hitsugaya's.

James said it made them look more like a family. Hitsugaya wasn't sure whether he should be insulted or not.

Thankfully Lily, the more practical of the two, had dyed her hair blonde. Any further resemblance to the Potters could now be considered merely coincidental. After all, necromancy was a forbidden art in the wizarding world.

"…Lily knew that the Academy would be the first place I'd go… something about me enjoying trouble too much to voluntarily stay out of it. She was right, as usual. So that's why we became shinigami," James chattered cheerfully. "What made you decide to become a shinigami?"

Hitsugaya's expression tightened. "I'm going out."

"Then I'll come with you!"

"Alone," he snapped, heading for the entrance to Diagon Alley. He gripped the fake wand in his hand and sharply tapped the bricks disguising the gateway, channeling a small amount of reiatsu through it to activate the enchantments.

He sincerely hoped that they found one of these Order members soon, because dealing with two would-be parents was really starting to grate on his nerves.

James sighed as he watched Hitsugaya – his _son_ – leave.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong, Lils," he said softly. "Every time I try to talk to him he just…" he waved his hand in a vague motion. "I mean, I just want to get to know my kid, you know?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I do. And maybe that's the problem," she bit her lip. "Maybe he doesn't want to get to know _us_. He's been acting as an independent adult for decades now, not... And then, all of a sudden two people show up claiming to be his parents. I… how would you feel, James?"

He nodded slowly.

"Just… slow down a bit. Don't try to pressure him into accepting us. Just… wait. These things take time."

He sighed again. "I know. But haven't we wasted enough time already?"

She drew him into a warm embrace. "Don't worry, James. It will all work out in the end, you'll see."

* * *

Remus Lupin wandered aimlessly through Diagon Alley. Ever since Dung had claimed to have seen someone who knew where Harry was in the Leaky Cauldron, Order members had frequented the Alley, hoping to either find some trace of the man or to find Harry himself. Remus had volunteered his time almost solely to the search effort, but even he had to admit that whoever that man had been, he was long gone by now.

Browsing idly through Flourish and Blots, a child entering the store caught his eye. It would have been hard for him to not notice, he thought in amusement, all but staring at the startlingly white hair. Sharp teal eyes glanced in his direction before flicking deliberately to the watch on his wrist. Remus looked down.

The glow coming from the watch wouldn't have been all that unusual, except for the sheer intensity of it. Remus's eyes widened and he looked back up, but the child had disappeared.

The glow started to fade.

* * *

A sharp knock at the door made James jump. Recognizing Hitsugaya's reiatsu, he quickly let him in. Did he want to talk?

"I've found one of the Order members," he stated without preamble. That was a 'no.' "Gather your things. He's probably on his way here now." And with that, he was out the door again, most likely to his own room to pack his things.

"Who do you think it is?" he asked Lily, haphazardly throwing clothes and books into his trunk. She shrugged. "How would I know? We don't even know who made it through the first war…" her voice trailed off. She slammed her trunk closed, which was somehow already neatly packed.

"You're already done?" he asked hopefully.

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes. And so should you be. You've known for days that we'd most likely have to be ready to leave in a hurry."

He gave her a truly pathetic look. "Help?"

She sighed, looking at the mess that was his trunk. "Go find the rest of your stuff, James. I'll clean this up."

"Thanks, Lils!"

* * *

Remus stared down at the fading glow emanating from his watch. He cursed and ran out the door. This was the first time there had been any change whatsoever in the spell, and he'd be damned if he lost this chance. Sirius would never forgive him. He'd never forgive himself.

He randomly chose a direction and ran, keeping his eyes on his watch. As the glow brightened and died he switched directions, making sure that, whichever way he went, the light increased. Eventually he came to a stop at the gateway between Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron. Harry wasn't in the muggle world, was he? Remus despaired ever finding him in such a confusing place. Hoping that he was still in the pub, Remus tapped the bricks and passed through the arch.

His eyes scanned the dimly lit room for a moment before alighting on a familiar form. The white-haired child from before calmly stood from the table he was sitting at and made his way toward the guest rooms. A quick glance was all it took for Remus to follow. The child paused and entered a room, clearly inviting Remus inside. He hesitated slightly before going. After all, Harry wouldn't do anything to him, if the child was indeed Harry.

Three people were in the room. One was the child he had followed, and the other two were clearly older, either in their late teens or early twenties. Were they his parents? They looked just like him, but they were too young to have possibly had a child that age. One of the older pair, the woman, smiled at him as he cautiously entered.

"Hello. You're one of the Order of the Phoenix, correct?"

Remus nodded slowly. How did she know?

"Wonderful! If we could, we'd like to meet with your group," she looked guilelessly at him and he found himself nodding again.

"I'm sure that could be arranged," he said, licking suddenly dry lips. He glanced at the child, Harry, he was certain, if the nearly blinding light from his watch was anything to go by. But who were the other two? There was something strangely familiar about them, but Remus was sure that he'd never seen them before. "We… actually, we'd like to speak with him as well," he said, waving his hand in the child's direction. "We believe that he's…" he paused, unsure how to continue.

"Harry Potter," the man, who had been staring at him with an odd look on his face the entire time, suddenly spoke up. Remus jumped.

"Well… yes. How…"

"…did we know? We'll explain when we get there," the child spoke for the first time. His voice was surprisingly un-child-like and Remus had to stop himself from staring at the boy who was supposedly his best friends' son and godson.

The werewolf took a small slip of parchment out of his pocket. It was technically for Harry's eyes only, just in case, but he supposed that, just this once, an exception would have to be made. "Read that and memorize it."

All three quickly read the address to Headquarters, the man and woman both clearly realizing the implications of what was written. Remus burned the parchment and unlatched a pendant from around his neck. "This is a portkey that will take us there," he explained quietly. The group each put a finger on the pendant.

"One… two… three…"

The world spun.

* * *

The first thing Hitsugaya did when they got to #12 Grimmauld Place was vow to himself to never, ever use a portkey again. By the time they reached their destination the world was still spinning and he could barely stand. It was not a feeling he wished to repeat.

The second thing he did was take a look around. He was not impressed. The severed heads of some kind of creature lined the hall directly after the door, which was where that… portkey… had deposited them. Chipping paint that had once been a rich, royal blue, but was now a murky gray, covered the walls. In fact, the only thing the building really had going for it was its size, and even that wasn't very impressive when compared to places like the Kuchiki manor, or even his own division's compound.

Their guide, who James and Lily had quietly told him was called Remus Lupin, led them through the manor to the dining room. Several people stood as they came in, and one had a quick, hushed conversation with Lupin, after which he nodded and ran to the fireplace.

"If you'll wait a few minutes, the Order will assemble here," he told them, choosing three seats around the long table for them to sit at. He left briefly, and entered again with another man with long black hair, gaunt features, and sunken eyes. "This is Sirius Black." He paused, clearly waiting for some kind of reaction. When none came, an odd expression crossed his features. The pair sat down across from James and Lily, though the man, Black, kept glancing at Hitsugaya. He ignored him as best he could and settled down for what promised to be a long meeting.

Members of the Order of the Phoenix trickled into the room over the course of the next fifteen minutes or so. One of them, a heavily scarred man with a distinct limp and an electric blue eye glared in their direction, whispering fiercely at Lupin, who looked slightly guilty. A large, dark-skinned man followed along with a pink-haired woman that reminded him marginally of Kusajishi-fukutaicho. Three children entered at the same time; a girl with bushy hair and two redheaded children. The last to enter was an old man with brightly twinkling eyes, a long white beard, and luridly colored robes. He glanced in their direction, eyes widening in surprise. He smiled.

"Albus," the scarred man snarled, pointing at James and Lily, "those two shouldn't be here. The only one that Lupin was supposed to bring was Potter! We should just obliviate them and throw them out."

The old man chuckled. "Remus was only doing as he was told; after all, he only brought Potters. Wouldn't you say, James, Lily?"

Lupin let out a sort of strangled sound and Black stared. Silence reigned for a complete minute before whispers broke out throughout the rest of the room. A man in the back with dark, greasy hair and a large nose sneered.

Black stood, knocking over his chair and all but leaping at the trio. "J-James? Is that really you?"

James grinned roguishly and pulled the man into a hug. "I'm right here, Padfoot. Could anyone else be this amazingly handsome, or have such a wonderful, intelligent, _beautiful_ wife?"

"What on earth did you do to your hair?"

"Well, we couldn't exactly go around as ourselves, now, could we? Imagine the riot that would cause… 'Two previously dead wizards come back to life and wander around Diagon Alley.' That would be productive, I'm sure."

Black let out a belt of bark-like laughter. "But how? We saw you two that night…"

The old man (Albus? Europeans had such weird names.) interrupted. "I think we would all like to know the answer to that. And, of course, how you found young Harry here."

Hitsugaya scowled. Black looked over with a grin and gave him a bear hug. "Harry!"

He stiffened, throwing a look at James, who shrugged. Black just pulled back, too happy to really care that 'Harry' hadn't hugged him back.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho," he said flatly. "And they didn't find me. We met in Soul Society."

"Soul Society?" asked Lupin curiously.

"It's what you humans refer to as 'Heaven.'"

Black froze. "What?" The rest of the Order seemed to be of the same opinion.

Hitsugaya looked at Lily, who took over the explanation. "We really did die," she started. "We stayed around as spirits for a little while before we were sent to the afterlife. After a few years James and I went to the Academy to become shinigami, or what you would call 'death gods' or 'soul reapers.' Our job is to send souls to Soul Society, or to defeat hollows, which are fallen souls that have become monsters and eat other souls. One of the shinigami on duty discovered that the search was taking place and recognized Harry's reiatsu, or spiritual power, coming from a necklace."

"But… if you met in Soul Society… that means that all three of you are…?"

Lily nodded sadly. "Yes. Right now we are in what are called 'gigai,' or fake bodies that allow us to interact with the living in ways that a normal soul could not."

"But Harry… when he fell through the veil, I was so sure that he didn't die…"

Lily blinked. "The veil? Oh! That explains so much!"

"I don't know what this 'veil' is, but apparently it gave me a new life," Hitsugaya interrupted, "because I was not Harry Potter when I died over 70 years ago. I only remember being Hitsugaya Toshiro, or, in your language, Toshiro Hitsugaya, I suppose." There was a long pause. "Call me Hitsugaya-taicho, or, if you must, Hitsugaya."

Lily laughed nervously. "Don't take it personally, Sirius. He doesn't let anyone call him by his given name."

Black nodded, confused. "Okay… What does 'taicho' mean?"

James grinned. "Captain. He's one of the second-highest ranking officers in Soul Society."

The greasy-haired man sneered. "Oh, and I suppose you had them catering to your every whim there, Potter? Managed to buy your rank? It figures; though don't expect the same to be true here."

James narrowed his eyes and Lily stiffened. "Don't you _dare_, Snivellus! There is no possible way to buy rank in Soul Society, and I won't have you disrespecting my so…"

"James," (1) Hitsugaya snapped, not caring to think about what James was going to say. No matter what he thought, he was not really his father, _could not_ be. "Stand down. Having his 12th seat act so unprofessionally reflects badly on both Komamura-taicho and the 7th division."

"Dumbledore-san," he said, finally remembering the name Lily and James had told him earlier. "I do not yet know how things work here and neither do I think it my place to rebuke your subordinates. I will, however, make a suggestion," he let his reiatsu leak slightly and a chill suddenly permeated the air. "_Keep them in line._"

Lily cleared her throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence that followed. "Sirius," she asked in a clear attempt to change the subject, "what spell did you use to find Har… Hitsugaya-taicho?"

"Uh, _Comperio Substantia,_" he replied.

Lily giggled. "Oh, Sirius, you are so, so lucky."

"What, why?"

She giggled again. "Sirius, that spell fell out of use two centuries ago because it kept finding the 'auras' of people that were known as deceased. If it hadn't been that spell, you wouldn't have found anything, but if you'd actually read the entire passage from whatever book you got that spell from, you wouldn't have used it. It's a good thing you're so unobservant!"

Black laughed before sobering again. "But if you're dead, why were you all allowed to come here and tell us these things?"

Lily and James exchanged glances. "Well… because Voldemort was supposed to die, but somehow managed to cheat death using forbidden arts. And because of the proph…"

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Yes, I have a few theories regarding that, but as yet nothing is proven. Tomorrow I'll know whether or not my theory is correct. I'll let you three know."

Hitsugaya nodded. "In any case," he said, "the point was not to tell you about Soul Society. We are here because our mission is to eradicate the soul identified as Voldemort, and to learn more of wizarding society. We will be leaving after our mission is complete."

Black's face fell, and a few of the others, including the three younger wizards he had noticed entering earlier, looked disappointed.

"Y-you're leaving?" the bushy-haired girl asked softly.

Hitsugaya nodded. "Not anytime soon, as the observation portion of our mission will take some time. However, that _is_ our only purpose here," the look he gave her was unforgiving.

She flinched.

The meeting ended soon after.

* * *

"_Toshiro," _the icy voice of Hyourinmaru spoke softly as he lay in bed that night in the room he shared with the redheaded boy, _"you should make an effort with these humans."_

"I don't see the point. Getting to know them only to leave again right after will only hurt them. And I don't make friends well. You know that."

"_Perhaps. But they care, and whether you know or like it or not, you care. It will be worth it, even if it is only temporary. Besides, you might see them again, in Soul Society."_

"I doubt it."

"_Does it matter? At the very least, it will make your mission to understand wizarding society easier. And it will be nice to have someone to talk to, won't it? I know you miss Hinamori and Matsumoto."_

"I'm not looking for replacements."

"_I never said you were," _the hailstone voice replied, exasperated, _"Just don't waste this opportunity."_

"I can't be who they want me to be, Hyourinmaru. I'm not Harry Potter, at least, not anymore."

"_I'm not asking you to be. Toshiro, just try it. It won't be as bad as you think it is, I'm sure. And James and Lily…"_

"Stop right there, Hyourinmaru," he sighed. "Fine. If it'll make you happy, I'll try. I had better not regret this."

"_You won't."_

It was a long time before he fell asleep that night.

* * *

(1) He calls James and Lily by their given names because having two 'Potter-sans' around would be confusing. Not only that, but he had to compromise. There is simply no way he was going to call them 'mum' and 'dad,' but having him call them Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter would be just freaky…


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * *

Breakfast was an uncomfortably silent affair, with the family of redheads, which he had since learned were the Weasleys, Black, Granger and Lupin shooting the shinigami uncertain glances, looking like they wanted to talk but didn't know what to say. After about 5 minutes of this, Hitsugaya had had enough. "What is it?"

Granger jumped and traded a long look with Weasley… Ronald, that is. Ron licked his lips nervously. "Uh… do you know… erm… that is… would you like to play chess?" Granger looked at him incredulously.

Hitsugaya noticed practically the entire table staring at him and nearly responded with a firm 'no' before recalling his conversation with Hyourinmaru the night before. He sighed internally. "Fine."

Ron grinned and ran to get the chess set. Everyone else looked at him curiously, clearly remembering his words the night before and wondering at the sudden change. He ignored them.

Ron came running back into the room. Mrs. Weasley scowled and told him to slow down, but he ignored her and proceeded to set up the board. Hitsugaya stared at its pieces, which were waving their tiny fists in excitement and shouting at each other. Suddenly he recalled another game; _Ron was bleeding, a giant stone knight towering over his prone form and letting loose a cry of victory. There was a hoarse shout of panic. _He shook his head and the image disappeared.

Less than 30 minutes later saw a stunned Weasley clan gaping at the results of the game. It was like an unspoken rule had been broken: No one beat Ronald Bilius Weasley at chess. Ever.

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow at their expressions. "Don't feel bad about losing. I lead a division of nearly 200 shinigami every day. I have to know how to coordinate and maneuver; it's half of what I'm paid for."

"Er, yeah," Ron muttered, still staring down at the board. He looked… conflicted, as if he didn't know whether or not to be happy about the match.

Hitsugaya took pity on him. "If it helps, I _do_ have decades more experience than you do at this kind of thing."

That made him look up. "Decades?" he squeaked.

Had no one listened to him at all last night? "Yes. I died over 70 years ago. Including the time I was alive, I'm at least 80. I've been a captain for almost 40 years. I _have_ picked up a bit about strategy during that time."

"Bloody hell," he choked, "you're _ancient_!"

Hitsugaya wasn't sure what to think about that comment. "Actually, I'm considered fairly young by Soul Society's standards."

Ron's response was cut off by a sudden loud beeping. "What's that?"

Hitsugaya, James, and Lily all pulled out their cell phones. "Hollows," James said, popping a soul candy in his mouth. Suddenly there were two of them there, one in the standard shihakusho, and the other still wearing his wizarding robes.

Black started. "Holy crap, Jamie, you're a ghost!"

James looked at him funny. "I'm not white, you dolt. I'm just in spiritual form," he glanced at his body, standing there with a goofy expression on its face. "You… stay here. Amuse yourself."

The gigai ran off. Lily looked concerned. "Are you sure that was a good thing to say?"

James just shrugged and ran out the door. Lily looked at Hitsugaya. He pointed in the direction James had just gone. "Taicho's already out there," he said, and wasted no time in diving under the table. "I'd suggest you all stay here, though…"

Sirius hopped out of his chair. "Oi, wait up! Come on, Remmy, we can't miss this!"

The Weasleys, Hermione, Remus, and Sirius all followed the (to them) pearly white forms outside.

* * *

Hitsugaya cleaved his Zanpakuto through the last hollow just as the group reached them. They had all been weak, and he and James had taken care of them easily without even using Shikai. "Why are they here?"

James shrugged. "I dunno. Guess they wanted to see what we could do… not that these guys were enough of a challenge for them to see anything."

Black looked affronted. "You mean we missed it?"

Hitsugaya started. "You can see us?"

"Yeah… you're like ghosts. It's creepy."

"…wizards can see ghosts?"

"Are we not supposed to be able to?"

James started heading back inside, and the rest of the wizards followed with varying degrees of disappointment. "Wizards could always see ghosts… at least, some ghosts. Lily could tell you more about it."

"Why was I unaware of this?" Hitsugaya asked, annoyed.

"I didn't think it was that important."

"Did it not occur to you that our job greatly depends on secrecy? Now you tell me that every single witch and wizard we come across will be able to see us? You moron."

* * *

When he questioned Lily about it later she told him, "Magic allows wizards to see stronger spirits, though for some reason that vision is always in shades of white and black. That's why muggle ghosts can't be seen by wizards; magical ghosts absorb ambient energy over time, and therefore are more powerful than their muggle counterparts. The ghosts at Hogwarts are particularly strong because the level of energy there is so high."

"Then why didn't they know about hollows before?"

"None of the ghosts at Hogwarts have soul chains. The magic at Hogwarts protects them from turning into hollows. Many of the ghosts there have been around for centuries. Only ghosts that stay in places with high amounts of ambient energy like Hogwarts are protected though. That's why you don't see them everywhere. Most of the ghosts that wizards _can_ see that turn into hollows manage to slip off their radar. Any damage they cause is usually chalked up to some kind of magical accident. For all that wizards talk about muggle ignorance, the can be pretty unobservant themselves."

* * *

Hitsugaya sighed, relaxing into the stuffed armchair he was sitting in. The front room was peaceful; most of the household had disappeared somewhere, leaving only Black and the three shinigami alone at the manor. James was upstairs cleaning up the damage his gigai had done when he had told it to 'amuse itself,' and Black had wandered off some time ago. That had left the rest of the house to Lily and himself, which meant that it would be nice and quiet. At least, it had been, until Black himself came storming into the room, a wrinkly, ugly creature trailing angrily behind him.

"I _know_ we threw this out, Kreacher! I order you not to steal anything from us again, _especially_ if we're getting rid of it!"

The thing cried out in a high-pitched wail. "No! You cannot take it! No, no, no, no, no! Filthy traitor wishes…"

Black clenched his fist more tightly around the object he was carrying. "Stop right there, Kreacher! Go back to your cupboard!"

The thing left, shrieking obscenities the entire way.

Hitsugaya stared at the glint of silver in Black's fist. "What is that?"

Black scowled. "Family heirloom," he said flatly. "The Blacks had a lot of dark objects around the house, so we've been trying to clear them all out. Apparently we've got a little thief making it that much more difficult."

"May I see it?"

Black grimaced. "I dunno if that's a good idea. A lot of the things here attack without warning. Ron almost got strangled by clothes last summer," he said, but he reluctantly handed it over anyway.

Hitsugaya took it. It was a locket, with a serpentine 'S' curving decoratively on the front. He wasn't concerned with any of that, however. He was more worried about the malevolent reiatsu emanating from within it.

"Lily, do you know what this is?" he asked, passing the locket to her. She took it gingerly.

"No…"

"It should not have reiatsu," he murmured softly, brows furrowed.

Black frowned. "That's probably just dark magic you're sensing. Like I said, there are a lot of dark objects around…"

"No," Lily interrupted. "That's definitely reiatsu. I cannot fathom why a locket, of all things, would have reiatsu, however," she turned toward Hitsugaya. "We should let Albus take a look at this. Maybe he'll know what it is."

He nodded slowly. "Alright. Do you know if he's back yet? Didn't he go on a mission last night?"

"Yeah… Let's floo to his office after dinner. If he's not back by then we'll have to try tomorrow."

* * *

Sirius Black couldn't remember ever being this happy in well over a decade. He had his friends back, he had his godson back, and even if it was only temporary, they were all here together. Still, he couldn't help but feel out of place, like he was no longer a part of their world, which, in a way, he wasn't. So when Lily and Harr… Hitsugaya had started discussing things he had no idea about, he quietly left the room and sought out James. He found him upstairs, cleaning up what looked like feathers and paint from the bathroom. He snorted.

"Ah, Jamie, they got you on clean-up duty up here? I thought detentions ended when you graduated."

"Shut it, Siri. Lily made me do it. Said that it was my own fault for letting my temporary soul go crazy."

"Oh, so you're just whipped?"

James shot him a dirty look, before turning away. "Sirius?"

He knew that his friend was serious. Now was not the time for jokes. "Yeah?"

"Would you… would you tell me what Harry was like before…?" he paused, a faraway look in his eyes.

Sirius hesitated. "I'm not so sure that I should, James. I mean… he's here now, isn't he? And… and he's _different_, now. What good will telling you about the old Harry do?"

"I… I just want to know. I mean… he's my son. I want to know this Harry, but I want to know who he used to be, too. I lost that chance the first time around. Please, Siri?"

The animagus sighed. "Okay, Jamie." He grinned, "Ah, guess what? Your son was the youngest seeker in a century; a Gryffindor, of course…"

* * *

It was just a little before dinner that the Weasleys returned, with shopping bags and secretive smiles. Granger and Lupin were still with them, looking pleased with themselves. Hitsugaya watched them suspiciously. They were definitely up to something, and he wasn't quite sure that he wanted to know what it was. In any case, he really had more important things to worry about. Like that locket… that he couldn't do anything with at the moment anyway.

Lily was in the kitchen, humming softly to herself as she cooked. Normally this was Mrs. Weasley's arena, but, as she had been out all day with the rest of her clan, Lily had taken over the preparation of dinner. It was a good thing, too. All of the Weasley's had come back starving from their day-long expedition to who-knows-where. If they had to wait any longer than absolutely necessary, Hitsugaya was sure that the boys would start gnawing on the tables.

That didn't stop Mrs. Weasley from huffing irritably. "Oh, Lily dear, you don't have to do that! Here, let me help."

Lily just smiled indulgently, knowing how Mrs. Weasley loved to mother people. "Why don't you take over the stove? I'll finish up over here."

Granger walked over to him while everyone else was busy putting away their things. "What have you been up to today?" she asked.

He almost sighed. He knew that she was honestly trying to strike up a conversation with him, but, dammit, talking to these people was _hard_. "Research, mostly," he replied before adding, with some effort, "the Black library is certainly impressive."

"Oh, it has nothing on Hogwart's library," she said enthusiastically. "Hogwart's library is said to be the most comprehensive in all of Britain! You can find almost anything in there. Of course, you need access to the Restricted Section for the more dangerous magics, but it really…"

Well, now he was interested. This could be useful, but Hogwarts was a school, he knew. He'd have to talk to Dumbledore about gaining access to the library, he supposed. Tonight, when he was asking about the locket, perhaps.

He managed to have a civil conversation with Granger for the better part of a quarter of an hour before they were called in to dinner. Lily and Mrs. Weasley had certainly outdone themselves; they were magnificent cooks. For all that it tasted good, though, he couldn't wait for it to end.

When it finally did he called James and Lily over to the fireplace, where Lily hurriedly explained to James what they had discovered earlier. He glanced apprehensively at the flames before grabbing a pinch of the sparkling powder on the mantelpiece. Not many people knew this about him but he really, really hated fire. It wasn't the same kind of dislike he had for heat in general; that was different, and had more to do with his love of all things cold. No, this stemmed from something else.

He wasn't afraid of fire, exactly, though at one point he had been. Something must have shown on his face though, because Lily was looking at him worriedly. "Are you alright Har… Hitsugaya-kun?" She hesitated before offering, "I'll go first."

He scowled slightly but let her do it anyway. He stepped up to the fireplace. "Headmaster's office, Hogwarts!" The flames flared an intense emerald and he stepped inside.

Hitsugaya cursed and fell headlong into a desk as he tumbled out of the fireplace. Behind him, James stepped out neatly. At least he had the courtesy to laugh _quietly_ as he saw the position the proud captain was in. Lily was biting her lip, clearly trying not to laugh.

"You wizards," he said, dusting himself off as he rose from the floor, "have the most ridiculous forms of transportation."

Dumbledore, who was indeed there, chuckled. "You'll find that many of our transportation methods are rather difficult to get used to, though they are certainly convenient. However, I do not believe I've seen someone make so spectacular an entrance in quite some time. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence here in my humble office tonight?"

Hitsugaya studied the aging headmaster. He was pale and ashen-faced, though somehow still managing to smile genially at his guests. Hitsugaya decided that he would hurry this along. The professor looked like he needed to rest. "We've found something that we believe you need to take a look at, Dumbledore-san," he said, carefully removing the silver locket from his robes. "It was brought to my attention earlier today when I felt reiatsu coming from it. Black believes it to be dark magic, however, no reiatsu should be able to come from something without a soul, or some kind of kido cast on it. I have no recollection of any sort of spell that would give off this sort of presence though. We were hoping that you could tell us what it is."

Dumbledore sat up, suddenly looking a lot more serious. He looked closely at the locket, though he never actually touched it. "Yes, I do believe I know what this is. Tell me, what do you know of Horcruxes?"

"Horcruxes?"

Dumbledore nodded. "In a way, young Sirius was right in that this is a piece of very dark magic. Only the most depraved of wizards would ever even think to cast such a thing," he trailed off, looking hesitant to speak any more on the subject.

"But what is it?" Lily asked curiously.

"Horcruxes," he said, "are objects that contain a piece of a person's very soul. Killing in cold-blood tears at a person's very essence, though this tear only lasts for a short amount of time. When a witch or a wizard creates a Horcrux, he or she takes that torn piece of their soul and rips it off completely, before placing it into an object. It grants them a kind of immortality, as their soul cannot completely die without first being completely whole."

Hitsugaya paled at the implications of that statement. If someone like Aizen had ever learned to make something like this… he ended that line of thought. Aizen was dead. Kurosaki had killed him. There was no need to worry about Aizen any more.

Dumbledore continued. "This, unfortunately, confirms my theory. Lord Voldemort has indeed created multiple Horcruxes."

"Multiple," James asked in disbelief, "as in more than one? H…how would you know?"

"This was the theory that I was confirming last night," he murmured. "I have collected one of his Horcruxes already. That locket means that there are at least two." He slowly placed his hand on the table. They started at the sight of the twisted, blackened appendage. "I believe I know how many he may have made, or wanted to make, but I unfortunately have no way to tell for certain at this point in time." He gingerly pulled a ring off of the blackened hand and held it out to Hitsugaya. He examined it carefully; it was a simple silver band with a black stone set in it. The stone had once had a design carved in it, but a crack through the middle made it impossible to tell what it was.

Dumbledore placed the ring on the desk. He seemed to be considering something for a minute before he spoke again. "Horcruxes are difficult to destroy. I managed to remove the piece of Voldemort's soul from this one on my own; however, I would not suggest using that method again." He rose from his seat and made his way to a glass case on the wall. A beautiful sword rested in the case, with rubies the size of eggs glinting in the firelight. He carefully removed the sword from the case and collected a box from the table underneath it. He handed them to Hitsugaya.

"I believe these are yours."

Hitsugaya blinked, taking the items. Dumbledore smiled. "The only sure way to destroy a Horcrux is to use an extremely powerful object. Goblin-made weaponry is one way to do it," he said, gesturing to the sword.

Lily looked confused. "But… goblins would never be willing to part with one of their own weapons… they don't sell anything permanently, much less something like this!"

"You are correct, though I urge you to take a closer look at this particular blade. I'm sure you'll be able to see why it has stayed within Hogwarts all these years."

They did. Engraved on the blade was the name 'Godric Gryffindor.' James whistled in appreciation. Hitsugaya froze as another image superimposed itself over his vision.

_The sword felt heavy in his hands as he stabbed upwards. The blade dug itself deep into the maw of the giant snake before him, even as he felt a fang almost as big as Gryffindor's sword itself bury in his arm. The serpent fell. His vision spun even as he pulled the fang from his body. Venom? Eerie music played in the background. Hot liquid dripped onto the open wound…_

"Hitsugaya-kun?" Lily asked worriedly.

He shook himself. "I'm fine."

Dumbledore smiled knowingly. "Yes. This is the sword that you yourself used to defeat the basilisk in your second year." James choked and Lily paled. Dumbledore continued before either of them could say anything. "And this," he opened the box, "is your cloak."

A silvery, almost liquid fabric pooled in his hand as he removed it from the box. James stared at it. "That's my old invisibility cloak!"

"Yes. You passed it on to Harry when you died," Dumbledore said, looking amused. He hesitated slightly before continuing. "The Horcruxes are not all you need to know about."

Hitsugaya looked away from the cloak. "Oh?"

"There are another few objects that Voldemort must never know of," he murmured. "These objects are known as the Deathly Hallows."

Lily sucked in a breath. "But those are only legends; children's stories! They don't actually exist."

"They do," Dumbledore said. "And they are all in this room."

James started. "What?"

Hitsugaya's eyes flitted between the three. "Explain."

Dumbledore did. "The Deathly Hallows, it is said, are three objects created by Death itself." Hitsugaya snorted. Dumbledore continued. "And while I know that explanation is certainly unlikely, these are extremely powerful items. The first is the very cloak you are holding."

James stared again. "But that's not possible. That thing's been in my family for generations."

"Yes, and did you never wonder how it was that such a cloak existed? How is it possible for its powers never to fade? For it to never be summoned by any but its owner? That cloak is the very cloak that legend tells of."

There was silence for a moment before Dumbledore continued. "The next is the Resurrection Stone," he pointed at the ring sitting innocently on the desk. "This ring has the power to bring back the dead."

Hitsugaya had to visibly restrain himself from interrupting. It comforted him slightly that Lily was also obviously having the same problem.

"Of course, no magic can truly bring back the dead in their entirety. They don't belong here, and it becomes worse and worse for the revived person the longer they stay… but it is a real power, and it _does_ work. I was hoping that, being shinigami, you would know more about the legend, but I can see that this is not the case." He sighed before continuing. "The final Hallow," he said, "is the Elder Wand." Slowly he pulled his wand from his robes and laid it on the table. Lily gasped. "It is said to be unbeatable; the most powerful wand ever made."

"These three objects together are said to make their wielder the 'Master of Death.' While I do not exactly believe this to be true, these are very real, and very powerful. Voldemort must never get his hands on these." He looked carefully at Hitsugaya. "Can I trust you to take these back with you when you return to Soul Society?"

Hitsugaya nodded, reaching for the ring and the wand. Dumbledore sighed again. "I'm afraid that I cannot let you take the Elder Wand just yet. The current wielder must be defeated for a new one to be chosen." He closed his eyes. "Hitsugaya-taicho, I am very deeply sorry to have to ask this of you." Their eyes met.

"I'm going to have to ask you to kill me."


	4. Chapter 3

A/N Okay, so the reason I'm updating this at approximately... 3:00 A.M. is because I know I'm going to be too busy to do it later and it's technicallly already Tuesday so it's not an early update... Uh, anyway, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

"What?" Lily breathed, shocked.

Dumbledore looked sadly at her. "It must be done, I'm afraid," he held up his blackened hand. "This curse will take my life anyway; I'd much rather choose when to die."

"No… no, I can heal you! My Zanpakuto… I'm in the 4th division! I can…"

"Lily," Dumbledore said. "Even if you could, I wouldn't want you to. I've lived a long, full life. It's my time to go." He sat back. "Not right away of course. At the end of this year should be appropriate."

"Appropriate! We're talking about your death, here! I can't believe you're not taking this seriously, Albus," Lily shrieked.

"Lily, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next greatest adventure. This has been proven to be true," he said, giving the shinigami a significant look.

Lily was still breathing hard, staring at Dumbledore in complete disbelief. She opened her mouth, probably to start yelling again when Hitsugaya spoke up.

"I'll do it."

"What?"

"Dumbledore-san is right; it needs to be done."

"But…"

"Lily," he said. "This is not our decision to make. And these Hallows must be taken to Soul Society. I'll do it."

She all but glared at her husband. "James, do something!"

He licked his lips nervously. "Of course, Hitsugaya-taicho."

Lily refused to speak to him for the rest of the night.

* * *

Hitsugaya woke late the next morning to a suspiciously silent house. He groaned and burrowed into the warmth of his bed; it had taken him forever to fall asleep the night before, and all he wanted to do was curl up under the covers and sleep some more. He groaned again and pulled a pillow over his head to block out the light streaming in through the windows. Vaguely he thought he heard a door open, but he was just too tired to care.

"SURPRISE!"

He shot up, hand reaching toward his back, where his Zanpakuto would normally be, before flopping right back down. He looked blearily at the rather large group of people standing in the room he shared with Ron. "What the hell?" How had he not noticed their reiatsu?

It was Granger who spoke up first. "Happy birthday, Harry! Um… Hitsugaya!"

What was she talking about? Wasn't it in the middle of summer? He glanced out the window. Yes, it was still summer. He leaned on his elbows, staring stupidly at the group that consisted of the Weasleys, Potters, Black, Lupin, and Granger. "What?" He suddenly suspected Lily. She had probably disguised their reiatsu with a Kido spell. Now if only he could figure out _why_.

They traded confused glances. "Uh, it's July 31st. You know, your birthday?" Ron asked, earning an elbow to the gut from Ginny.

It was way too early to be thinking about any of this. "Nooo… my birthday is December 20th. Thanks for the thought, but you're about five months too early."

"I would think that I would remember when I gave birth to you," Lily stated flatly.

Hitsugaya merely pulled the pillow over his face again. "One word; veil," came his muffled voice.

Granger traded a glance with Lily. "Well, that's fine. We'll celebrate your birthday twice this year!"

Hitsugaya sighed, finally sitting up. "That's not necessary," he yawned. "I'm up."

Granger's smile was blinding. He glared half-heartedly at her before looking pointedly at his sleeping yukata. "Great. I'm up," he repeated, waving his arms in a shooing motion. "Now get out so I can get dressed."

* * *

Over the past week or so Lily and James had noticed one thing about Hitsugaya: he was very meticulously neat. Normally this wouldn't have bothered them at all, except today was a day he was supposed to be messy. Today was supposed to be fun. Today he was supposed to unwrap his birthday presents.

It was taking him bloody forever, and it was driving James absolutely nuts. Worse than that, though, was that the party had already been one long string of disasters.

After they had dragged Hitsugaya out of bed they had gone immediately to the dining room. There had been cake (which was technically for after dinner but nobody really cared about that anyway.) The problem? Hitsugaya refused to eat any of it on the grounds that he didn't like sweets. Who didn't like sweets? Molly had been so upset it had taken forever to console her, and that had been possible only after Hitsugaya had said that it was his fault for not letting her know. James had noticed Ron giving his present a mortified look.

Not only that, but nobody had known how many candles to put on the cake in the first place. That had been difficult enough, and James had later noticed that Hitsugaya had been mildly irritated when asked to blow them out. Whether it was because of the number of candles (which may have been few enough to imply he was a child) or because they had asked him to do it at all (because he probably thought it was a childish tradition, and he strongly disliked anything childish) he didn't know. At least Hitsugaya hadn't said anything about it.

Then Fred and George had snuck alcohol into everyone's drinks. Hitsugaya had choked on his, but by the time anyone else had noticed Ron had already drunk enough to be a smidgeon past tipsy. At least he was far less likely to notice Hitsugaya opening his present, which was undoubtedly candy of some kind.

And, of course, they were now opening presents. Or trying to, at least. Hitsugaya was being almost obsessively neat about the whole thing, carefully unwrapping his gifts so that the paper wasn't damaged in the least. James was pretty sure he wasn't the only one being driven insane by his snail-like pace, especially if that look Sirius was giving him was any indication.

The very suggestion that he simply tear his presents open was met by a look that said 'If I have to be here doing this, I will be doing it my way.'

And his reactions were bland. He politely expressed his appreciation for all of the gifts of course, but any real emotion showing whether or not he actually liked them was always hidden behind a blank face.

Possibly the best thing that happened was when Remus handed over his presents. He passed a small box to Hitsugaya, which he unwrapped with painstaking neatness. He blinked when he saw what it was; a miniature trunk. Remus smiled and tapped it with his wand, resizing it to a full-size trunk.

"I know this isn't an actual present," he started, "but I thought you'd like your old things back, whether you remember them or not. I'll be right back." He left the room, returning a minute or so later with a beautiful white owl perched on his shoulder. Hermione gasped when she saw the bird, which flew over to Hitsugaya. Remus opened his mouth, but apparently he didn't need to say anything because Hitsugaya beat him to the punch.

"Hedwig," he murmured, eyes glazed. He shook himself, returning to full awareness and holding out an arm for the snowy owl to land on. His eyes softened as he stroked the soft-looking feathers, and the owl gently nipped at his fingers. James's heart nearly stopped as Hitsugaya gave a tiny half-smile as he looked at his companion.

Then Ron broke the moment with an indignant huff. "'Course he'd remember the bloody bird, first."

* * *

The party recovered some of its initial steam after that, though Hitsugaya could have cared less. He'd never really cared about his birthday before; why start now? But, he supposed, he could tolerate a party. At least it wasn't one of Matsumoto's wild get-togethers, even if alcohol had somehow managed to make its way down his throat. He felt himself relax a little bit as everyone chatted happily around him, neither really excluding nor including him in their conversations.

Then his cell phone went off.

More hollows? The number yesterday had been slightly alarming, even if they had all been easily disposed of. He flipped open his phone, eyes widening at the number of little red dots blinking on the screen. What was going on? Such a large group, and for the second time in two days, no less!

"James, Lily," at the sound of his voice the entire party silenced. "We have a job to do," he said, pulling out a soul candy and popping it into his mouth. The other two quickly followed suit. He snorted as he saw his gigai run off to hide somewhere. James was careful this time to order his temporary soul to amuse himself in a non-messy, harmless manner. Lily nodded in approval, and prepared to flash-step. Black ran over. "Wait! I want to come too!"

Hitsugaya glared at him coldly. "We're not here for your amusement, Black."

Black stared him directly in the eye. "I know that." He said no more than that. Hitsugaya looked at him carefully before nodding at James. James quickly took a hold of his friend, flash-stepping out the door. He followed before anyone else could ask to come.

The first hollow was less than a hundred meters away from the manor, but James seemed to be handling it fairly well. As expected of a seated officer. Hitsugaya flash stepped to the next hollow's location.

Sirius watched in awe as James easily cut down the first hollow before seemingly apparating to a group of three clustered together on a street about a block away, barely remembering to take Sirius with him. He felt slightly ashamed that he was being less than useful, but he had wanted, no _needed_ to know more about his friends and godson; their powers and lifestyle both. Unfortunately it seemed he'd only be seeing James in action today, though.

He watched as James barely dodged a strike aimed at his back, spinning neatly to block an enormous claw about to cleave him in half from his left. He had been able to easily take care of one opponent, though he seemed to be having a bit more trouble with three. He heard James curse in frustration, and he gripped his wand, ready to step in.

"_Don't try to interfere with the battle," _he remembered James whispering to him hurriedly. _"You don't have a soul-cutter and none of your spells contain reiatsu. You won't be able to do any damage to the hollows."_

His expression tightened and he forced his grip to relax. He wanted to help, but as he was now he'd only be in the way.

One of the hollows turned, catching sight of him. It shot toward him, jaws agape. Dimly he heard James curse again as he leapt out of the incoming predator's pathway.

"Iki o Suru (Breathe), Tatsumaki (Tornado)!" A bullet of wind slammed into the hollow even as it scrambled to face its new prey. It shrieked in pain. James panted slightly, holding his Zanpakuto in front of him, parallel to the ground. It glittered golden, its shape more closely resembling a European longsword than a Japanese katana. Bright crimson cloth wrapped around the handle, resting above a stag's head whose antlers formed the hilt. Wind swirled invisibly around the blade. James swung it in a broad arc and a thin concentration of wind cut through the hollow's mask. He spun to face his remaining two opponents. Two more slicing arcs of wind broke the hollows' masks in half. Sirius gaped.

James gasped as the wind died down, his Zanpakuto transforming into its sealed form. It looked like a regular katana, though the hilt formed a vague representation of the stag's head he had seen just moments before.

James was still breathing hard as Sirius approached him, though he had his cell phone out and was checking the screen. "I guess the others finished off the rest of them," he panted.

"That was amazing, Jamie!"

James grinned wickedly at him. "Yeah," his smile faded a little. "I need a lot more practice, though. That took a lot out of me."

"It was still amazing." There was a brief pause. "Do you think I could learn to do that?"

* * *

To the quartet's surprise, Dumbledore was waiting for them when they got back to Grimmauld. Or, more specifically, he was waiting for the three shinigami. All of the partiers had left the room, though they had yet to clear away the mess they had made.

"I'd like to discuss something with you for a moment," he began without preamble.

"Yeah?" Hitsugaya flopped uncaringly on a couch. A cloud of dust flew up and he wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"How would you feel about returning to Hogwarts this year? And not just you, but James and Lily as well," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he asked. "Hogwarts has vast resources for you to use during your research into wizard-kind," he added unsubtly.

It was around then that Hitsugaya remembered that he had forgotten to ask about using Hogwarts' library. Great.

"As much as I would love to, we have responsibilities that will require us to be outside of the school's grounds frequently. If I were to go in the capacity of a student, as that _is_ the most convenient disguise, I'd still need to be able to come and go freely. Our top priority is Voldemort, not the research."

Dumbledore nodded. "I have also come to offer the position of defense against the dark arts professor to you, Lily. As I recall, you were one of our best students," he smiled. "I'll be happy to accommodate your needs for your missions. Now, I shall not take up any more of your time. Should you decide to accept, you may send your answer however it is most convenient for you, and we will set up a time to discuss all of the details." With that, he left for the fireplace.

"So," James asked, immediately turning toward the other two shinigami, "should we go?"

"I'm not sure that would be wise," Hitsugaya replied. "Being there would only restrict our movements."

"We'd have access to more information."

"But we'd also have to act the parts of students and professor the entire time we would be there. Could you do that, James? Not only that, but Lily would have a job that will divide her attention from our mission."

Lily interrupted. "I'm sure I could handle it," she said. "I also think that this would be a wonderful opportunity. Voldemort undoubtedly has powerful wards keeping him hidden, but he will show up at Hogwarts eventually. Hogwarts is an extremely important location; not just strategically, but to him personally as well."

"Oh?"

She nodded. "Yes. I suggest you ask Dumbledore about Voldemort's history; he has a wealth of information on him. I was going to compile a report for you, but I guess getting answers straight from Dumbledore would be faster."

"I'd like the report anyway, in case I miss something."

"Of course…"

"You know," James interrupted, "that really isn't the point of this discussion."

"You're right," Lily sighed. She looked at her son/superior officer. "Are we going?"

Hitsugaya hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of the situation. He nodded slowly. "For now. If we need to leave, we won't hesitate to do so," he looked sharply at Lily, "even if it means depriving Dumbledore-san of a teacher."

She narrowed her eyes, looking offended. She didn't say anything, however.

"Hey, what about me?"

"What about you, Black?"

"I'm going too."

He raised an eyebrow. "As I recall, Dumbledore-san invited the three of us, not you. You are also a wanted convict, and the more of us there are, the more attention we will gather. Are you seeing any problems here?"

Black grinned, before morphing into a great black dog. Hitsugaya just looked at him blandly. "And you're willing to be someone's pet for the entire year?"

The mutt nodded and had the gall to wag his tail.

"Fine. Do what you want. If you get caught, we're denying any involvement."

He barked.

Lily glanced at the other three occupants of the room. "This brings up a good point, though. How are _we_ going to go? I mean, I'll be going as a professor. Which means I'll be the one taking care of Sirius, because the students aren't allowed to take dogs," she added, frowning at the animagus.

Hitsugaya shrugged. "Transfer students. That's how these things usually work."

Lily bit her lip. "But Hogwarts almost never has transfer students."

Hitsugaya started. "Then what do they do about people who've just moved into the country?"

"That's actually fairly rare in the wizarding world, especially if the family in question has school-age children."

James nodded. "I suppose it can't be helped. I look too old to be anything but a transfer, so that's what I'll be going as. Maybe re-taking my NEWT's after studying abroad…"

Hitsugaya suddenly didn't like where this is going. "And where does that leave me, exactly?"

"We don't have to worry too much about you. Lils and I need disguises and new names, but no one really knows you anymore. And," James hesitated, dreading the words that were about to come out of his mouth, "…you look young enough to be a first year, so you can do that. Don't kill me, please," he dove behind the couch.

The temperature dropped. "You've got to be kidding me." Unfortunately, that really would be the most convenient way to go about it. He took a few deep, calming breaths. "Fine," he growled, and refused to say anything else.

Black, the bastard, had his tongue lolling out, clearly laughing at him.

* * *

Later that same night, James approached Hitsugaya. Seeing Padfoot had reminded him clearly of Prongs, and he wanted that back. It had been the one thing he missed the most about losing his magic. If he converted the magic into a reiatsu spell, he'd have that again. However, this was something he wanted to share with his son.

He broached the topic carefully, outlining the most logical uses of an animagus form, as that was what seemed to appeal the most to Hitsugaya. Seeing the impatient look on his son's face, he finally asked, "So, would you like me to teach you how to become an animagus?"

He saw his son consider it carefully. James really hoped he accepted the offer; this would be the perfect opportunity to spend more time with each other. Hitsugaya sighed. "I'm sorry. Now is not the time. We need to concentrate on the mission… if, however, you truly wish to pursue this, I will not stop you from doing so."

James heart sunk. He looked pathetic and he knew it. What's more, Hitsugaya knew it and he sighed again. "If you still wish to teach me once we return to Soul Society, I'll set aside some time for you to do so."

James grinned, suddenly feeling a lot happier. His son was willing to spend time with him, even after this stupid mission was over! That meant more to him than he could say.

"Great! I wonder what you'll be…"

* * *

The trio made arrangements with Dumbledore, sending in an acceptance letter and getting supply lists in return, along with a small golden key. This was Harry's, or his, Hitsugaya supposed, vault key. Fortunately, the goblins were notorious for their privacy, so if he went to the bank as Harry Potter, no one would ever know about it. He wasn't listed as deceased yet, though, so he'd have to create a will for when he returned to Soul Society.

When they got to Gringotts, he did exactly that. He divided up his assets between all of his former friends, and if any mention of the substitute shinigami and his group made its way into his will, well, no one would know until they left, would they?

After grabbing a sack or two of gold, Hitsugaya, James, and Lily all wandered around Diagon Alley. They stopped at the apothecary first, and the horrendous smell chased them out before they could really buy anything more than absolutely necessary (which was unfortunate, because potions sounded really useful).

Their next stop had been at Madame Malkins to get robes. Hitsugaya had never felt so insulted in his life.

"_You look a bit young to be going to Hogwarts, dearie. Why don't you go look over there while I find your mother?"_

Lily had needed to step in so he could get his robes and get out. Honestly, he didn't look _that _young; all of these Europeans were just freakishly tall, that's all.

It didn't help that Hyourinmaru was laughing at him.

They stopped briefly at the Owl Emporium to get treats for Hedwig, who had also refused to be left behind. Lily had charmed her beautiful feathers gray and black, which she didn't appreciate but would tolerate for the time being. She didn't want to be separated from her wizard ever again.

Their last stop was the bookstore, mainly because they knew they'd be spending the most time there. After they left with armloads of books, Hitsugaya was seriously ready to call it quits. He hated shopping.

He really hoped this Hogwarts place was worth it.

* * *

A/N: Sorry, no animagus in this fic, though I am planning a one-shot for when they get back to Soul Society. About the constant change from first name to last and back again; well, Hitsugaya wouldn't call anyone by their given names, so from his perspective, they're all 'Granger' and 'Black,' etc. Except for James, Lily, and the Weasleys, as there are really too many Weasleys at Grimmauld. That may change when they get to Hogwarts, though, because there'll only be Ginny and Ron with them there.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N I am soo sorry for the lateness of my update today. I can only say that I was busy and I forgot... Next time I'll try to get it up earlier in the day.

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

Hitsugaya browsed through a potions text as Granger and Lily chattered quietly in the background of their compartment on the Hogwarts Express. The Weasley boy was occupied with his owl, who had taken it upon himself to annoy Hedwig, or, as she was now known, Shirahana. The name didn't really fit her current coloring, but it didn't really matter as the students at Hogwarts most likely wouldn't know Japanese anyway.

Lily had also changed her name, although in her case she only switched languages. Therefore, she was now called Hitsugaya Yuri. Since she was going to Hogwarts as a professor, it would have been hard to meet with her regularly, but no one would care if a mother and son met all the time.

He just wished they didn't have to pretend to be related. No matter what she said, she wasn't really his mother. He remembered his parents; had known them before he died.

He didn't know James and Lily.

"_But you have the perfect opportunity to,"_ Hyourinmaru said softly.

Hitsugaya sighed inwardly. "I know."

Nothing more was said on the matter.

Weasley looked over at him. "Huh?"

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Er… oh," he thought for a second. "Want a round of exploding snap? Or we could play chess…"

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He put away his book as Weasley took out a deck of cards. Granger and Lily both joined in. Hitsugaya was sure James would have, except he was actually in another compartment. As they weren't supposed to know each other, James felt that he should go sit with what would be his year mates for the next few months. Granger and Weasley were only here because they had insisted on staying with him. He wasn't sure why; they'd most likely be seeing a lot of each other at Hogwarts anyway.

The compartment door slammed open.

Draco Malfoy sauntered inside, his lips curled in a sneer. "Well if it isn't the Mudblood and the Weasel." His eyes traveled to Hitsugaya. "What's this? Potter's replacement?" He took in the white hair and Asian features. "Just traded one freak for another…"

"Malfoy, you ferret! Get out!" Weasley snarled, hand in a white-knuckled grip around his wand. Granger was also on her feet, eyes narrowed and looking ready to curse.

"Why should I?"

"Because," Lily said, standing from her position on the floor, "Slytherin will be starting with their House points in the negatives if you don't."

"And who are you?"

"Professor Hitsugaya, your new defense against the dark arts teacher," her expression tightened, "and that is my son you are insulting."

Malfoy's eyes widened. He sneered again and left the compartment without another word.

Hitsugaya glanced at Lily, but said nothing. He knew that she hadn't been acting, not in the least. It was simply easier to pretend that she had been. He didn't need a mother.

Weasley rounded on Hitsugaya. "Why didn't you do anything? That little prick totally had it in for you!"

He almost rolled his eyes. "Would it have been any better if I had? Yuri handled it just fine. You know," he added, "this is why I didn't want to sit with you. If Malfoy figures out who I am simply because you two act too familiar with me, I assure you, the results will be less than pleasant."

Weasley turned an alarming shade of red. He sat down and muttered something rather uncomplimentary in Hitsugaya's general direction.

Hitsugaya sighed. This was going to be a long train ride.

* * *

It was dark by the time they reached Hogwarts. Lily, James, Granger, and Weasley all headed toward the carriages being pulled by strange, winged horses while Hitsugaya went to the boats with the other first years. He grimaced, suddenly realizing that he was going to be stuck at a boarding school with eleven year olds, _pretending_ to be an eleven year old. It made him a little sick just thinking about it.

The castle was a sight to see. Its towering figure made for an intimidating picture, and its grand windows reflecting the starlight made it beautiful. What was most impressive, however, was the feeling of sheer power emanating from the building and the surrounding landscape. The feeling only intensified the closer they got to the castle. As they approached the main doors, Hitsugaya wondered if it might pose a problem. The power, much like Kurosaki's reiatsu, might cloud their senses if they weren't careful.

The inside of the castle was nearly as impressive. The grand, hallowed halls made the interior feel larger than it really was. Shadows flickered in the torchlight, casting an ethereal look upon the place.

Hitsugaya felt for his comrade's reiatsu, pleased when he could easily pick it out through the heady feeling of magic. The differences between the two made it easier, he supposed. He would have to look more into it later.

A stern faced witch appeared in the Entrance Hall then. Hitsugaya recognized her as one of the members of the Order, and idly wondered how many teachers Dumbledore had managed to con into joining. She looked rather imposing in a strict, no-nonsense kind of way; something he was familiar with as a tactic both he and Kuchiki-taicho used to scare their subordinates into doing their jobs. If only it would work on Matsumoto…

The first years all stood silent as McGonagall gave her speech on the four Houses of Hogwarts and the point system. Hitsugaya was amused, knowing that many were too nervous to do anything else and knowing that it wouldn't last a week.

They all followed her into the Great Hall. He took in the hundreds of floating candles and the ceiling, both slightly impressed at their beauty and irritated at their impracticality. Not that Soul Society was much better, to be honest.

McGonagall strode to the front of the Hall and carefully placed an old, tattered hat onto a stool. It sprung to life as she stepped back, a tear near the brim opening wide as it began to sing. It told of the values each of the four Houses valued and added a tiny verse at the end about uniting the school. Hitsugaya wondered if that was even possible, considering how deeply prejudices ran in the wizarding world. Even in Hogwarts such prejudices were vast, and it showed in the division between the Houses, Slytherin in particular.

Dumbledore stood from his seat at the head table. "Now, before we begin tonight's sorting we have a new student to introduce. He will be joining our current seventh years so everyone please give transfer student Jonathan Patterson a warm welcome."

There was polite applause as James sauntered over to the Sorting Hat, grinning and waving and generally attracting as much attention as he could. He even took a little bow before taking his seat on a stool meant for eleven year olds. McGonagall had her lips pursed as she placed the Hat on his head, looking like she'd rather be doing anything but. Hitsugaya didn't blame her; she was, after all, admitting one of the Marauders back into school as a student. By the look on James's face, he knew what she was thinking too.

There was silence for a minute as the Hat conversed with James. Finally the tear opened wide and it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The table on the far right erupted into cheers and James all but skipped to it, cheerful and unsurprised. He sat down next to a group of seventeen year olds and almost immediately struck up an enthusiastic conversation with them, only stopping when McGonagall gave them all a stern glare. She smoothed the list in her hand and read aloud, "Altair, Michael."

Hitsugaya waited impatiently until she got to the 'H' section on her list. "Hitsugaya, Toshiro."

He walked up the stool and sat down, ignoring the whispers that were undoubtedly caused by his unusual appearance. McGonagall placed the Hat on his head and he felt a wave of irritation as it slipped past his eyes. It had fit _James_ just fine.

'_My, my, what do we have here? Another shinigami, eh?'_

Hitsugaya stiffened as the Hat spoke to him. He had known this would happen, of course (James and Lily had both informed him), but it was still unnerving. Hyourinmaru didn't like it either, but allowed the Hat entry into his mind anyway.

'_Oh, I have sorted you before, haven't I? I suppose you agree that Gryffindor is no longer the place for you?'_

'_I don't care, Hat. Just sort me already so that we can be done with it.'_

'_As you wish,' _the Hat pondered for a moment_. 'Courage, definitely and also cunning. There is also loyalty… Slytherin would still suit you well. However, I feel that another House would be best for you. May you be aided in your pursuit of knowledge in _RAVENCLAW!'

Hitsugaya jumped off the stool and swept the Hat off his head, glad to have only the presence of Hyourinmaru in his mind again. The third table from the right was applauding, though definitely without the same enthusiasm the Gryffindors had shown James.

He took his seat next to a blonde girl sitting by herself and clearly from another year. He'd be damned if he spent any more time next to bratty eleven year old children than he absolutely had to. She gazed at him with curiously blank, protuberant eyes. "I see that you've had a recent infestation of winged bollyglogs."

He couldn't help it. He stared at her. "What?"

"Bollyglogs," she repeated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She tugged at a lock of his hair and he swatted her hand away. "They come to take your chain away," she smiled. Hitsugaya froze. "If you're not careful, you'll end up looking like a ghost!"

"I… have it under control," he muttered, unnerved. Chain? As in Soul Chain? Did she know?

"That's good. I'm Luna Lovegood," she said cheerfully.

"Toshiro Hitsugaya," he replied, grimacing slightly at having to say his name backwards. English was such a strange language.

"Yes, I know."

They got into the flow of conversation, chatting quietly throughout the rest of the sorting. It was surprisingly comfortable to talk to the girl, despite (or perhaps because of) her unusual views and knowledge.

As soon as the sorting ended Dumbledore gave a speech on the forbidden areas on the grounds and Quidditch tryouts, among other things. He also introduced Lily, or Professor Hitsugaya, who was thankfully far less exuberant than her husband. By that point even Hitsugaya was getting hungry, and he was glad when the food appeared on the table. Soon enough it was time for the students to head to the dormitories, and a Ravenclaw prefect led the way to their tower. Luna had decided to stay by Hitsugaya, even though the rest of the older students had already gone ahead.

"This is the entrance to the Ravenclaw dormitories," the prefect said, and pointed at a knocker shaped like an eagle. "Instead of a password, us Ravenclaws will need to either answer a question about magic or solve a riddle." The prefect demonstrated as the knocker gave him a riddle. The door to the common room opened and they entered.

The Ravenclaw tower was an airy circular room with a domed ceiling. Stars were scattered across the ceiling and carpet, and large, arched windows proudly showed the real stars outside. Directly across from them was a statue of a crowned female witch. The whole place was done in the House colors, but was nonetheless inviting.

"To your right are the boys' dorms; girls' dorms are on the left. Each dorm room is marked by year. If you have any questions you can come to one of us," the prefect said, referring to him and his female counterpart. He headed to the fifth year dorm, leaving the first years on their own. Hitsugaya dodged his fellow first years and explored the common room for a few minutes before deciding to turn in. Tomorrow was sure to be a long day.

* * *

That statement turned out to be all too true. The next morning had already started out terribly, with an alarm blaring in his ears and eleven year olds tripping over each other and getting in his way. After finally pushing his way through a group of tired children Hitsugaya quickly changed into his robes and headed for the Great Hall. He sincerely hoped that this was not what it would be like every morning, or he might find himself sleeping in the common room.

Before he had even set foot out of the tower he noticed one very important little detail about his classmates.

They were all taller than him. Even the other first years, dammit. (1) He cursed and was in a completely foul mood by the time he reached the Ravenclaw table, where Professor Flitwick was already passing out timetables. Flitwick. Flitwick who was at least half a foot shorter than him. Thank God.

He was in a much better mood as he collected his schedule and sat down for breakfast.

Lovegood appeared soon after, drifting over to him with an absent smile on her face. He nodded at her as she sat next to him, content to just sit and eat in silence. The other Ravenclaws gave the duo weird looks as they passed by and clearly avoided settling down anywhere near them. Apparently Lovegood was something of a pariah, and now he was as well by proxy. Wonderful.

Oh well. It's not as if he was here to make friends anyway. He glanced down at his schedule, noting that today he had Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs first, followed by History, lunch, Potions, and Astronomy. There were no classes he shared with either the Gryffindors or Slytherins.

Granger and Weasley both entered the Great Hall then. Weasley turned an angry red when he caught sight of him and Granger looked uncomfortable. He wondered what he had done.

The bell rang and he muttered a goodbye to Lovegood, grabbing his books and heading toward the Transfiguration classroom. He found it with little difficulty, having procured the Marauder's Map when Lupin had given him all of his old things.

The class itself passed slowly, with the exception of McGonagall's transformation at the start (and even that wasn't as impressive as it could have been, as Hitsugaya had seen Yoruichi transform before). The lecture on beginner's Transfiguration was similarly disappointing, as he had read many of his books (including the ones he had collected as Harry) during the month before school started. Then McGonagall passed out matchsticks, and told them to turn them into needles. He did.

Glancing around, he noticed no one else was done yet. Bored, he tapped his fake wand against his needle and changed it back into a matchstick, before transforming it into a needle again. He repeated this process several times before anyone noticed what he was doing. This earned him ten points to Ravenclaw, as well as several jealous and slightly hostile looks from the other first years, who, at best, had made theirs metallic or pointy. It was worth it, though, because he was the only one who didn't have any homework to deal with later.

History was dull, and the ghost that taught it seemed to suffer from memory deficiency. Fortunately lunch was next, as Hitsugaya didn't think he'd been this bored since he had gone to the Academy.

Lily was smiling at him from the head table as he reached the Great Hall. He knew why, too. Whispers followed him as he made his way to the Ravenclaw table; rumors were already starting about him being too intelligent. That would only get worse later, because there was absolutely no way he was dumbing himself down the level of an eleven year old for anything or anyone. But he could deal with being called 'tensai' again.

* * *

Potions class could be summed up in a single word: terrible. The potions themselves were fairly easy to make, and his classmates weren't so bad either. It was the teacher that was what made the class nigh unbearable.

Snape, the same, greasy-haired filth from the Order meeting, had seen fit to dock him points before he'd even sat down. Of course it was for something stupid, too; namely, his hair color, which Hitsugaya knew that Snape knew was perfectly natural and not bleached or dyed or spelled in any way shape or form. It had only gotten worse after that, with the bastard docking him points continually for imaginary offenses and things that weren't even in the rulebook. He knew, because he'd read the damned thing. Snape had also made sure to let the class hear him make snide comments about him for the entire period. His classmates looked like they weren't sure whether to be sympathetic at the clearly unfair treatment, or furious at the sheer amount of points he lost during that single hour.

Honestly, the man was the most juvenile, unprofessional moron he had ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on. It didn't help that the man was an absolutely terrible teacher. What kind of instructor merely pointed at a list instructions and said 'do it?' Half of these students didn't know a thing about potions making!

Hitsugaya could barely resist the temptation to just turn the man into a human ice sculpture, especially since Hyourinmaru agreed.

He was the first out of the classroom when the bell rang.

* * *

There was a lot of free time that afternoon, as Astronomy wouldn't take place until late that night, when the stars were more easily visible. Hitsugaya was glad of that, because he needed that time to cool his temper.

He absently wandered around the castle, making note of prominent locations as he worked his way up toward Ravenclaw's tower from the dungeons. As he passed through the second floor corridor, he felt himself fall into another memory. _He wearily splashed through the corridor, trying to ignore the worried glances of his friends. If he had known what their reaction to him hearing the voice from the walls would be, he wouldn't have told them. And the deathday party… that had been a particularly awful experience that he never wanted to repeat. _

_He looked up. There was a cat, frozen stiff and hanging from a torch bracket. Writing was painted in blood on the walls. The sound of stamping feet reached their ears…_

The scene changed.

_He and Ron were running with a blond man, Lockhart, to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. When they got there, they started searching, asking Myrtle how she had died. He found a tiny serpent carved on a sink. He hissed, telling it to open, and it did. They had found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Foolishly, they jumped into the darkness._

The memory transformed once more.

_Poisonous green scales scraped along a stone floor. He closed his eyes, making his way blind through the damp chamber. A flash of fire, and a hat was in his grasp. Gryffindor's sword nearly knocked him out and he pulled it from the Sorting Hat. A bird tore at the eyes of the serpent until it was blinded and bloody._

_He felt himself swing upward with little grace or force, the serpent itself driving the blade into its skull while he merely aimed. A fang pierced his arm and the world blurred out of focus. Hot liquid seeped into the wound, eerie music playing in the background; birdsong._

Hitsugaya's head spun as he fought himself back to awareness, and he had to lean on the wall for support. He panted heavily for a minute, disoriented. His head felt like it was trying to split in two.

He waited for a moment for the sharp ache to subside, and thought back onto what he had just seen. That last memory had been familiar. He'd first remembered that one when Dumbledore had given him Gryffindor's sword. The other two, however, he had never seen before.

He felt his headache dull with Hyourinmaru's cool, comforting presence. _'Are you okay?'_

"Yes," he murmured. "I'm fine. That was just a little… too much to take in at once."

'_Three separate memories at the same time…'_

"Yeah… This can't keep up, Hyourinmaru," he whispered, tone slightly incredulous. "It's affecting my ability to function properly. I nearly _fainted_ just now."

He felt the dragon begin to reply when an angry redhead nearly bowled him over before dragging him into a classroom.

"Weasley!" he yelled, wincing as he felt his head flare with pain. He lowered his voice. "What the hell are you doing?"

Weasley ignored his question, instead giving him one of his own. Loudly. "What are you doing with those bloody bookworms?"

"What? And quiet down, Weasley, I have a headache."

Granger, who had followed the pair of them inside, interpreted. "What he means is why did you choose to be sorted into Ravenclaw? I mean," she bit her lip, "we wouldn't have blown your cover. We do know how to keep secrets."

He stared at them. Was that why they'd been acting funny all morning? "Choose? I let the Sorting Hat decide where it wanted to put me. It had nothing to do with your ability or inability to keep secrets."

"But you said…"

"And while it is true that it will be harder for you to act familiarly with me while I'm in another House, that is not why I went there," he interrupted. "Of course, dragging me into a classroom really doesn't help," he added bitingly. He couldn't help it; these two were making his headache about ten times worse than it had been just a minute ago.

"Harry…"

"Don't call me that!" he snapped, glancing around quickly to make sure no one else was there. "I'm not Harry, I haven't been in over eighty years, and I will not be ever again. I'm sorry if you thought I would be the same as I was just because I happen to have the same soul, but I'm not. I'm not a Gryffindor. I'm not the Boy-Who-Lived. I'm not even really a wizard. Hell, I'm not even alive! I am _not_ Harry _fucking_ Potter!" he exploded, the temper he'd been reigning in all day finally getting the better of him. His head pounded fiercely, made worse by all of his yelling.

He immediately felt somewhat guilty as he took in Weasley's and Granger's ashen faces, but refused to apologize. Maybe he shouldn't have said it so harshly, but they needed to realize that he wasn't going to be someone other than he was, not for anyone.

He stormed out of the room and past a wide-eyed James, who'd been standing by the door. He didn't stop until he reached the library, grabbing a random book and all but slamming it open.

What a fucking wonderful first day of school.

* * *

A/N (1) This is true! The average height for both male and female eleven year olds is four feet nine inches, and Hitsugaya is only four feet four inches. It makes me laugh. Also, the average height of a person with dwarfism (a.k.a. a midget) is around four feet, therefore Flitwick is likely to be shorter Hitsugaya, though not by much.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

* * *

The first week of school crawled by at a snail's pace. Neither Weasley nor Granger had said a word to Hitsugaya after the incident on their first day of classes. Hyourinmaru kept trying to convince him to apologize, but he hadn't seen either of them in a private enough setting for him to do so. He wasn't even sure he wanted to.

He stared at his Transfiguration text in complete boredom. First class on Monday, and it wasn't any better than the first week. It was going to be a long, long year if this kept up.

A folded piece of parchment flew into the classroom then, headed straight for McGonagall.

"Mr. Hitsugaya, the Headmaster wishes to see you in his office," she said, after reading the parchment. "Please see to it that you hurry back to class."

"Thank-you, Professor McGonagall," he replied, not bothering to gather his things.

He quickly made his way to the Headmaster's office, stopping only once he reached the statue guarding the entrance. He opened his mouth and… paused.

What was the damn password?

He frowned impatiently. Dumbledore hadn't given it to him. How inefficient.

He was about to snap something that probably shouldn't have been said anywhere near a school at the gargoyle when his vision blurred and he was sucked into another memory.

_He saw himself running toward the statue, Mr. Crouch and Cedric Diggory both waiting near the Forbidden Forest. He watched as Dumbledore disappeared in a flash of Phoenix fire. He saw himself handing over a bloodied Gryffindor's sword, with a torn and stained diary sitting on the headmaster's desk. Dumbledore was at his desk, watching him calmly tear apart the room. A woman, Trelawney, was speaking out of what appeared to be a bowl (a pensieve?). He listened to the words of the prophecy in disbelief. _

The memories were coming faster than before, overlapping in some places and throwing his mind into a whirl of confusion. Sounds and images blurred together and he felt like he was going to be sick and he just wished it would _stop_.

It did.

He vaguely heard a scraping of stone as the gargoyle leapt to the side, and a worried voice called his name. He blinked as the world came back into focus, Dumbledore's face swimming into view.

"Mr. Hitsugaya, are you alright?"

No. "Yes, I'm fine." His head felt like a hollow was tearing it open. Repeatedly. Hyourinmaru growled in frustration in the back of his mind.

Hitsugaya leaned back against the cool stone walls of the castle and closed his eyes for a moment, before realizing that he was _on the floor_. Had he actually fallen over? Well, duh. Better question; _when_ had he fallen over? He was lucky he hadn't cracked his skull open.

"Are you sure?"

He winced as the sound of Dumbledore's voice made his head pound even more. "Yes," he said anyway, grasping the other's proffered hand.

The aging headmaster smiled, pulling him to his feet with a surprising amount of strength. "Well, if you're sure… we have something important to discuss."

Hitsugaya nodded slowly and carefully followed him into his office. He all but collapsed into the soft-looking chair in front of the headmaster's desk. A quiet, eerie music sounded from the corner, surprisingly making him feel a little better. He glanced over, catching sight of brilliant red and gold plumage. "Fawkes?"

"I'm sure Mr. Weasley will be pleased that you have indeed remembered someone else, even if it is not him," Dumbledore said genially, gently stroking the phoenix.

Hitsugaya frowned. He doubted Weasley would be happy about anything to do with him at all any time soon. In any case, that was not what they were there to talk about. Dumbledore must have guessed what he was thinking about, because he moved the conversation along then. "As you know, Lord Voldemort has multiple Horcruxes. I have since procured a memory from a friend of mine, and I now have a reasonable estimate as to how many, exactly, he made.

"I believe that he has seven in total, including the piece of his soul still residing in his body, and one he made unintentionally."

Hitsugaya nodded, lip curling in disgust.

"We have since destroyed four of them," Dumbledore went on, "the locket that was found at Grimmauld Place, the Resurrection Stone, and a diary you yourself destroyed in your second year."

"And the last?"

"The fourth one was the one he never knew about," the headmaster said, giving him an unreadable look, "your scar."

"Scar?" he thought back. He could vaguely remember a scar that had inexplicably always been there when he was still alive. It had faded and eventually disappeared after he had died. He then paled a bit, realizing that he had been carrying around a piece of some filthy wizard's soul around for who knows how long. "It disappeared when I died."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. You were never intended to be a Horcrux, but it indeed happened. The piece of the soul that was attached to you died at the same time you did… it could not leech from a body that was not living."

There was silence for a few minutes. "Anything else?"

"Yes. I believe I know what the other Horcruxes are. You see, Voldemort is arrogant. He would never lower himself so far as to put a part of his soul into a common item. No, he would want something of value, something important, whether just to him or to the wizarding world is the question. Though it is likely there will be a bit of both."

"So possibly historically important items? Or objects directly related to him, like the diary?"

He nodded again. "Hogwarts School has always been important to Voldemort. I would suggest researching anything about the Founders of this school you can, to see if they left behind anything that might interest him. The locket Sirius found was one such item; it belonged to Salazar Slytherin," he reached for a piece of parchment and a quill. "To make things easier I will give you a pass into the Restricted Section of the library. It is likely that Madame Pince will be seeing far too much of you this year."

"You also said items that were important to _just_ him."

"I did indeed. The last Horcrux, I fear, will undoubtedly be difficult to access, for it is none other than his familiar, Nagini."

"You are sure of this?"

"Yes. Last year you had a vision from the view point of the serpent, and your visions were directly related to the Horcrux you contained and the other pieces of his soul, though I had not realized it until a short time ago. Also is the fact that he displays an unusual amount of control over Nagini, even for a Parselmouth, or snake speaker," he added upon seeing Hitsugaya's confused look.

Dumbledore pulled a small bowl from a desk drawer. It was fairly plain, though the rim had been intricately carved with runes.

"Lily tells me that you wish to know more of Voldemort's history; a commendable goal, and one that will doubtlessly aid you in his defeat," he said, gathering a set of vials all containing a silvery substance. "This is a pensieve, and these are memories. I will give these to you to view at your convenience," his lips quirked, as if reviewing an amusing memory, "along with a set of instructions on how to properly use the pensieve. Now, I will let you know if I learn anything more, so you had better head back to…"

They both paused as a silvery shape glided into the room. The canine opened its fanged maw and spoke in a girly voice. Tonks's voice.

"Professor Dumbledore! Death Eaters are attacking Diagon Alley! We need backup… they brought those weird hollow things, and dementors, too!" The silvery shape ran off, presumably back to Diagon Alley.

Dumbledore flicked his wand, and a parchment flew out the door. Another wave summoned his own silvery shape, though this time it was a bird. It followed the parchment. He turned to Hitsugaya, who was already out of his gigai and searching the mantelpiece for floo powder.

"I have alerted James and Lily," he said, grabbing the elusive pot of sparkling powder. "Diagon Alley!"

* * *

James froze as he felt something tap his shoulder. He grabbed it, discovering that it was a piece of parchment. He quickly unfolded it. Inside was a short message.

'_DE's attacking Diagon. Hollows are there.' ~AD_

James bit his lip, glancing around the Arithmancy classroom. He needed to leave, fast. But he couldn't blow his cover…

He grinned as an idea struck him like a bolt of lightning. He reached for his bag, glad that he had prepared for incidences like these…

Two minutes, five dungbombs, and sixteen fireworks later and James was being sent to the Headmaster's office. Perfect.

He ditched his gigai and grabbed a pinch of floo powder. "Diagon Alley!"

* * *

Lily smiled at her class as Dumbledore's patronus flew away, after having quietly relayed his message. "You've all done a wonderful job today, class, so I'll let you leave a little early." Seeing the slightly too happy looks on her students' faces she added, "You can use the time to finish up your essays on vampires. I want twelve inches, due Friday!"

Her students groaned and left the classroom.

As soon as they were gone she hurried to her office's fireplace. "Diagon Alley!"

* * *

Hermione traded a sharp glance with Ron as they left Defense Against the Dark Arts an entire thirty minutes early.

Ron licked his lips. "You don't suppose…"

She nodded. "Something's going on. We should ask Professor Dumbledore," she ran in the direction of his office.

"_Diagon Alley!"_

They got there just in time to see James disappear through a shroud of green flame.

Hermione looked at Ron. He stared back. "No matter what he says, he's still Harry," she said quietly. "And he needs us. We'll help him, just like we always have."

Ron nodded, determination lighting in his eyes. They each took a pinch of floo powder.

"Diagon Alley!"

* * *

Hitsugaya tripped gracelessly out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, which was eerily silent. He got up, dusting himself off and clutching Hyourinmaru. He could feel the hollows… there were so many! What were they doing here?

"Be careful, Dumbledore-san," he whispered. "If you see a hollow, get away as fast as you can. You won't be able to harm them without any reiryouku."

The headmaster nodded, leading the way to the entrance to Diagon Alley. Hitsugaya followed. Screams could be heard, faintly at first, but when they opened the arch they exploded to full volume.

Hitsugaya resisted the urge to plug his ears and flash stepped to the nearest hollow, cutting it cleanly in half. The sight of a child killing a ghostly monster might have been strange, but he had made sure to grab a cloak so that no one could see his face, at the very least. And this way (as the cloak was normal, whereas he would appear to be a ghost), it would look perhaps a little less odd. Maybe.

He swung Hyourinmaru in a broad arc, slicing through the mask of another hollow. Where were the Death Eaters? He felt Lily and then James arrive. Good. They could take care of more hollows…

A pained scream was cut short as a hollow tore through a wizard. There were too many for them to deal with like this… he just hoped he didn't hit any wizards.

"Soten ni zase, Hyourinmaru!"

The long, serpentine shape was comfortingly familiar as it shot through several hollows at once, freezing them to the core. They shattered. His mood blackened. So many… this shouldn't be possible! Hitsugaya paused, realizing suddenly that his dark mood wasn't entirely because of the ridiculous number of hollows.

Then it came, like a sudden wave of black emotion. He gasped and fell to the ground, Hyourinmaru clutched limply in his fingers. Despair…

_Green light, a woman screaming. Momo asking him to save Aizen… being torn open by his blade. Cruel, searing flames burning everything to ash; destroying his whole world in a single night. He was cold, colder than he'd ever been in his life and he was dying…_

Another memory came, but this time it was something lighter. He wasn't sure how it managed to battle its way through the dark emotion but he didn't question it. He used it.

"_Expecto Patronum!" _he cried, pointing his Zanpakuto at the foul, cloaked beings drifting through the Alley like monstrous wraiths.

A silver light burst from his Zanpakuto, enveloping it and shooting forth. It wasn't a stag, like he had halfway thought it would be.

No, there was only one thing, one creature, one _being_ that could ever make him feel this protected.

Hyourinmaru roared.

* * *

Hermione and Ron arrived just in time to see what seemed to be a freezing wall of water and ice soar past, tearing through a number of the strange ghost-like creatures the shinigami had told them of at the Order meeting.

"Ron… Ron, look!"

He almost wished he hadn't. Dementors were everywhere, gliding through the mass of panicking wizards and almost casually giving them the Kiss. Ron felt himself pale, before he shakily aimed his wand at the teeming mass of black. "Expecto Patronum!"

A silvery, terrier-like dog with a forked tail ran from his wand, following the glistening form of Hermione's otter and tearing a path through the dementors. He panted. Harry had been right; it _was_ loads harder to cast a patronus in the presence of the real thing. And they were on the very fringes of the battle still!

He caught sight of another black figure, and wondered why it wasn't fleeing from the patronus near it. Then he saw it; a white mask covered the Death Eater's (for it couldn't be anything else) face. A crystal was glowing a soft silvery-white against the Death Eater's chest, where it hung from a leather cord.

The Death Eater moved, walking right past a dementor without even pausing. It was as if he didn't feel the thing at all!

He was about to point this out to Hermione when there was a sudden blast of bright light. A huge, silvery-white shape rose above the battlefield, roaring its displeasure. Dementors and hollows alike scattered from what could only be a patronus, shrieking in pain.

A beam of red streaking past his ear brought his attention back to the Death Eater, who was standing in front of him and Hermione, calmly aiming his wand in their direction.

"You missed," Ron jeered, "Stupefy!"

Hermione shouted, "Protego!"

A sickly yellow light slammed into the shield. Ron hadn't even noticed the Death Eater casting the spell! The Death Eater jeered back, "Careful, now, kiddies! You may have blocked that spell, but the next one won't miss; not like my little _warning shot_!"

The voice, definitely female, was somehow familiar. From the corner of his eye he saw Hermione pale.

"Ron…" she breathed, her voice little more than a whisper but still managing to reach him, "Ron that's… that's Bellatrix Lestrange!"

The witch cackled. "That's right, girlie!" they could practically feel her smirk. "Where's your little playmate? Oh, that's right, poor widdle Potter is _dead_! I killed him, tossed him through the veil!"

Ron saw red. "He's not dead, you bitch!" he snarled. The next curse he fired at her was decidedly more deadly than a stupefy. "He's alive, alright! And he's gonna kick You-Know-Who's ass!"

Another spell came his way, but Hermione was already casting a curse at the witch, and had no time to shield him. He raised his own wand, an incantation on his lips. But it was too late, the curse was going to hit him. He absently wondered what it would do. Crush his bones? Decapitate him?

It didn't do any of those things, for, standing in front of him, sword drawn and looking absolutely furious, was James Potter.

* * *

All of the hollows and dementors had disappeared with that single, gigantic patronus. James didn't stop to wonder at it, instead focusing his attention on the now easily visible Death Eaters. He swung Tatsumaki around, cleaving through a Death Eater's mask. It was just like defeating hollows!

He shook his head to dispel that thought, glancing around for another opponent. His eyes widened when he caught sight of two people that should definitely _not_ be there. He flash stepped in their direction.

"…alive, alright! And he's gonna kick You-Know-Who's ass!"

Oh, no. He hadn't, had he? But there was no time to dwell on it as he saw a flesh-eating curse head in the boy's direction. He performed the fastest flash step he had ever used in his life… afterlife, whatever.

James landed in front of Ron and blocked the curse with Tatsumaki. He waved the Zanpakuto threateningly in the Death Eater's direction. "I think you'd better leave now, _Death Eater_," he spat. "All of your little friends are gone already." And indeed they were. The battle was already winding down. With the absence of the dementors and hollows, the Death Eaters stood no chance against the combined might of the Order, the shinigami, and Dumbledore himself.

The Death Eater snarled in fury, apparating away.

He heard Ron sigh in what might have been relief. James rounded on him. "And you! You stupid little _twit_! I cannot believe you… you…!"

The boy frowned. "Well we helped out, didn't we? What are you yelling at me for?"

"Maybe," James hissed, "but Voldemort also didn't know that Harry was back before now, did he?"

* * *

Lily walked slowly through the wreckage, carefully feeling for her husband's and son's reiatsu. She couldn't believe how much damage had been done by the combined might of the Death Eaters and hollows. So many had died… and even more were lying soulless, because of the dementors.

She felt Hitsugaya's reiatsu before she saw him. He was speaking with Dumbledore.

"…what were those things? Those dementors?"

"There will be an Order meeting tomorrow to discuss the attack. I will tell you then, because I fear that there is far more than just them we must worry about."

"Yes. Those hollows… they weren't attacking the Death Eaters at all…"

She moved on, deciding to look for James. They would likely be covering everything at the meeting the next day anyway.

She found him soon enough, yelling at…

Was that Ron and Hermione? Oh, dear. Molly wasn't going to be happy. Neither was she for that matter, but she felt that it wasn't her place to say anything. Molly's lecture would likely be more than enough.

* * *

They arrived back at Hogwarts shortly before dinner. Dumbledore hadn't been happy with Ron and Hermione, but had declined to punish them, saying that the rest of the students didn't need to know what they'd been up to. He also implied more than said that Mrs. Weasley would probably punish them anyway, seeing as they'd be attending the Order meeting the next day.

Hitsugaya just shook his head. Neither of them knew what they were doing; they may have thought that they were helping, but the Order didn't need constantly guarding two inexperienced teens along with all their other duties.

He gratefully sunk into his place at the Ravenclaw table, declining to answer any questions about where he'd been. He was _starving_.

The Great Hall's doors banged open, startling many of the students.

"Taaiiichoouuuu~!"

Hitsugaya paused, fork halfway to his mouth.

"Matsumoto?" 


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

* * *

"Taaiiichoouuuu~!"

"Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya stared at his fukutaicho. So did every other male student in the Great Hall.

She grinned and all but bounced over to him. He felt his heart sink. She wouldn't… "Matsumoto, wha…"

She would, and did. Gathering up her taicho in her arms, she squished his face in her ample breasts. In the middle of the Great Hall. During dinner. _"Taicho, I'm so happy to see you! How've you been? Do you like Hogwarts? What are the wizards like?" _she asked in rapid Japanese.

The questions just kept on coming. Unfortunately, he couldn't answer any of them. He couldn't even _breathe_.

She finally let go, and he sucked in as much air as he could, face blue. _"Ma… Matsumoto," _he gasped,_ "What are you doing here?"_

"_Eh? So cold, taicho! I'm the representative, of course!"_

Of course. He remembered now. He had sent in a report saying that their cell phones wouldn't work at the school, and therefore a representative needed to be sent to gather their reports and anything else that required communication with Soul Society.

"And who," a voice sneered, "is this? And speak in a language everyone can understand," the Hogwarts potions professor looked Matsumoto up and down, lip curling in distaste at her rather… revealing clothing.

Hitsugaya looked at Snape, smirking coldly. "That's none of your business. And if we wanted everyone to know what we were saying, _sir_, then we would."

Snape snarled. "As I am a teacher at this school, it _is_ my business. I demand…"

"The Headmaster was already informed that she was coming; if you weren't that isn't my problem."

Snape's face colored unpleasantly. "Twenty points from Ravenclaw, Hitsugaya. You…"

Matsumoto pouted. "Don't be so mean, teacher-san!"

Dumbledore chose that moment to interrupt. "If you would please come to my office, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto," he said mildly, "we can discuss your stay here."

They left, leaving an unhappy potions professor and a dumbfounded student body behind.

* * *

When they got to the office Matsumoto turned to her superior officer. "Where are James-kun and Lily-chan?" she asked.

"The Great Hall, most likely," he replied, a tiny blush staining his cheeks. He still couldn't _believe_ she had hugged him like that in front of everybody. He probably should be used to it by now.

"Ahh, taicho's so cute!" she squealed when she saw the blush.

"I am not cute!"

Dumbledore cleared his throat and the two shinigami whipped their heads around to stare at him. He smiled. "Now, Matsumoto-san, I know what you are here for, but if you would kindly tell me how long you are planning on staying…?"

"Oh, not too long," she waved her hand dismissively. "Just the night… long enough for everyone to finish their reports so I can take them back to Soul Society."

"Will you be joining us at the meeting?"

"Meeting?"

"The Order meeting," Hitsugaya replied. "The Order of the Phoenix is meeting tomorrow to discuss the attack that happened today at Diagon Alley. You might as well stay until then, Matsumoto, because none of us will be able to finish our reports until after the meeting."

"Oh. Sure, I'll come, but I was really hoping to go out with Renji and Kira tomorrow…"

Hitsugaya's eye twitched. "I'm sure that you'll have plenty of time for that," he said, voice slightly frosty, "after you finish your paperwork."

Matsumoto blinked. "Ah, taicho, speaking of paperwork…" she pulled an enormous stack of papers from seemingly out of nowhere. He'd really rather not know. "This is all of the paperwork you've missed!"

"That," he said, and the temperature dropped at least thirty degrees, "cannot possibly be all mine." He glanced at the top few pages. "Matsumoto," he growled. "What is _your_ work doing here? _Unfinished_?"

"Ah ha ha," she laughed nervously, "well, you see… I couldn't finish it because I spilled ink _all over _and had to clean it up. I mean, you wouldn't want that kind of mess, would you? You'll do it for me, won't you taicho?" she asked, giving him a truly pitiful look.

He growled again.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Why don't you give Matsumoto-san a tour of the castle? I'll have a few house-elves send your things to your dorm," he gestured to the monstrous pile of paperwork and the pensieve he had left behind earlier.

"What a wonderful idea! Let's go, taicho!" Matsumoto exclaimed, dragging him out of the office.

* * *

Hitsugaya stalked down the corridors, giving clipped explanations of the areas they passed. Matsumoto pouted at him. "Taicho, don't be like that!"

"Then do your paperwork!"

"Aw, but taicho!"

Honestly! She was a full grown woman, why couldn't she just sit down and do her job? He had to remind himself, once again, that she really was a good fukutaicho and that, no, he shouldn't ask for a transfer.

A dog barked.

The two of them turned toward the source of the noise, spotting the big, bear-like form of one Sirius Black's animagus. Lily trailed behind, looking both amused and exasperated.

"Hello," she said tiredly. "Snuffles here needed to be taken on a walk." She eyed Black in annoyance. "He wouldn't let me get any rest until I did."

"Can't you train him out of that?" asked an uninformed Matsumoto curiously. "Like, use a spray bottle or something?"

Black whined. Hitsugaya smirked.

Black and Lily, having nothing better to do, decided to join the tour. Hitsugaya led them around for a while, eventually passing through the seventh floor corridor. "That's the tapestry of Barnabas the Bar…" he choked on the last word, sliding to the floor with a gasp.

"Taicho?"

"Hitsugaya-kun?"

He ignored them, instead focusing on the whirlwind of images spinning through his mind. _Edgecombe looked miserable with the word SNEAK written on her head. Chang's patronus formed a magnificent swan. They walked back and forth, crossing the space opposite the tapestry three times. Smith asked skeptically about Harry's ability to teach. Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad knew about them; they were trying hard to find where they were meeting. Granger and Weasley approached him about teaching Defense in place of an awful teacher. Dobby was telling him about the Come and Go Room. There was a large group, all meeting at the Hog's Head and signing a piece of parchment…_

"Taicho!"

"Matsumoto?" he asked blearily, wincing at the all-too-familiar ache in his head. Black whined again, pawing at his robes. Hitsugaya absently patted him, and he snuggled closer, licking at his face.

"Taicho, what was that?" Matsumoto asked worriedly. Lily, off to the side, looked ready to draw her Zanpakuto. (1)

"Memories."

Matsumoto looked confused. Lily gave a soft 'Oh' of realization.

"Being around things Harry was familiar with is causing me to have flashbacks. A lot of the time I get more than one at once. The mind can only take so much, Matsumoto. It makes me feel weak."

"…Is there anything we can do about it?"

"Not as yet, no. Don't worry about it too much. It'll stop eventually."

She didn't look too sure, but she backed down anyway.

It was a long time before any of them fell asleep that night.

* * *

Classes passed by in a blur the next day, with Matsumoto watching him like a hawk. He would have told her to stop, but knew she was only worried. She'd never seen him like that before; not without having lost several liters of blood, at least.

Finally dinner came and went, and the shinigami, Granger, and Weasley all assembled in Dumbledore's office.

"We will all be assembling at the location of the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters, #12 Grimmauld Place," Dumbledore said, for Matsumoto's benefit. He was the secret keeper, after all.

Dumbledore placed what appeared to be a hula hoop on his desk, and gestured everyone to gather around. "This portkey will take us there."

Hitsugaya grimaced, but was too prideful to ask if he could use the floo instead (which, despite its tendency to spit him out rather violently, he still preferred over portkeys). He placed a hand on the hoop, Matsumoto copying him, as she really had no idea what a portkey was.

Boy was she in for a surprise.

* * *

"Taicho, are you all right?"

Hitsugaya groaned, getting up painfully from his place on the floor. He realized, much to his annoyance, that Matsumoto was still standing. What the hell? "Fine," he snarled.

Matsumoto sighed dramatically. "That wasn't very fun," she said to Dumbledore, who looked amused. "They almost popped out!" she added, pouting down at her chest.

Black, who had indeed come with them, choked.

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes.

The group made their way to the kitchen, where a few of the Order members were already seated. They all found a place to sit or stand and chatted quietly while they waited for everyone else to arrive. When they did, Dumbledore stood from his place at the head of the table.

"As you all know," he began, "we are here to discuss what transpired at Diagon Alley only yesterday." He nodded at Tonks, who gave a detailed report of what she had seen, stopping when she reached the part where she sent her patronus to contact Dumbledore.

"We were badly outnumbered," she said. "We couldn't even scratch those hollow things! We were lucky you guys showed up when you did, or we'd have been as good as dead!"

"Those things," Hitsugaya said, "the dementors. What are they?"

"Dementors are the guardians of Azkaban, or the wizarding prison," Dumbledore explained. "They feed on emotions. But their most powerful and dangerous ability is what is known as the Dementor's Kiss. They literally consume the soul by pulling it out of the body, leaving a shell behind that inevitably dies soon after."

Hitsugaya frowned. "They sound disturbingly like Hollows," he murmured.

"As far as we know, they're not, but no one knows exactly what they are either, so it's open for interpretation."

"Wait, you mean you didn't know?" Tonks exclaimed. "But what about that giant patronus? That was yours, wasn't it?"

He shrugged. "I got lucky."

"Did anyone else notice that his patronus drove off both the dementors and the hollows?" James asked.

Lily nodded. "I think that's because hollows are essentially the same as dementors. They feed off souls to drive away the empty feeling, and are created from regret and negative emotion. The pure positive force of a patronus, particularly one that powerful, was simply too much for them."

"What I want to know," Hitsugaya asked, "is why they were there at all. The hollows didn't even bother the Death Eaters; they actually seemed to be helping them."

"If it helps," Ron said meekly, trying to avoid his mother's gaze, "the Death Eaters were all wearing some kind of necklace that kept the dementors away. Suppose it worked against hollows, too?"

"What did these necklaces look like, Ronald?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, they were made of crystal, or some kind of clear gemstone," he replied. "They glowed a silvery-white color, like a patronus."

Whispers immediately started up among the Order, all of them speculating about what the Dark Lord's new tool could be.

"Settle down, please," Dumbledore ordered, and everyone quieted.

"That's not enough, though," Hitsugaya said. "It doesn't matter if the Death Eaters somehow gained immunity to the hollows' attacks or not. The hollows were actively helping the Death Eaters. This suggests that Voldemort," he ignored the gasps and indignant cries at the name, "has some measure of control over the hollows. This should not be possible."

James sighed. "Well I don't think we're going to figure that out right now," his eyes narrowed. "And there's something you all should know." He glared at Ron before turning to Mrs. Weasley.

"Molly, I know you, and you're a great mother, but your son is incredibly stupid."

Ron turned red at the insult, but didn't speak.

"What did he do?" she asked, hand on her hips. She pursed her lips. She couldn't wait until this meeting was over; she hadn't had a chance to tell Ron exactly what she thought about his stunt yesterday yet.

"He," James said angrily, "let Voldemort know that Harry is here."

There was stunned silence. Hitsugaya cursed. "He didn't say anything else, did he?"

James shook his head.

"Then we should be okay. While this does throw a wrench in things, the situation is still salvageable. He doesn't know that I'm a shinigami, which means that we can still surprise him a bit when the time comes."

Dumbledore sighed heavily. "Does anyone else have anything to add about yesterday's attack?"

He was met with a general negative response.

"Then, Severus, what do you have to report?"

The potions master nodded and stood. "The Dark Lord is still gathering as many allies as possible. The attack at Diagon Alley yesterday was merely a show of power. He wants as many wizards and witches as possible to be terrified of him. He expects little resistance when he reaches his goal."

"What is the progress on recruitment?"

"He has made overtures to several vampire clans and werewolf packs. The vampires look ready to serve the Dark Lord, but the werewolves are unsure; both for the same reason. The vampires feel that they can end ministry prosecution by destroying it; the werewolves think that they will gain favor by being against the Dark Lord. Both, however, merely wish for an end to the ministry's prejudiced laws. If you wish to persuade the vampires against joining, I suggest you be cautious. At this point, they are more likely to kill the messenger."

Dumbledore sighed again. "Anything else?"

"Nothing of note."

"What of the ministry?"

Shacklebolt shook his head. "They're still as unreasonable as ever. The Death Eaters are hiding themselves really good, too; it's almost impossible to ferret them out. I'd suggest not looking for any help from the ministry any time soon."

There wasn't much else to be said.

"Then this meeting is adjourned."

* * *

Molly Weasley was beside herself with fury. "Ronald Bilius Weasley! How _dare _you? Going off on your own like that! I don't care what you thought you were doing, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! And what's this business with You-Know-Who knowing that Harry's here?"

Ron found his shoes incredibly fascinating. "We… I thought we could help."

"Look at me when you're talking to me! And some help you were, too! If you ever, ever do something like that again you'll be stuck degnoming the garden until you're eighty! And _you_!" she rounded on Hermione. "I thought you had more sense than that! What on earth would your parents think?"

Hermione looked down. "We're sorry, Mrs. Weasley," she said softly, lip quivering slightly.

Mrs. Weasley's eyes softened. "As well you should be," she sighed. "Come here, dears," she said, enveloping the two in a hug. She pulled away, clasping their shoulders.

"Now, don't you ever do something like that again! We were so worried, when we heard where you'd been! We thought you'd been injured, or worse!"

To Ron's horror, his mother looked like she was about to cry. He looked down again, feeling guilty. His mother was right. Every time he, Harry, and Hermione had an adventure, things had miraculously turned out to be okay, but this time he had screwed up. He had put his best mate's (no matter what he might think at the moment) life in even more danger.

He had never felt so sorry in his life.

* * *

Hitsugaya leaned casually against a wall, looking at Matsumoto.

"So what's the news from Soul Society?"

"Nothing much," she said. "It's still pretty quiet up there. Oh! Right, I forgot to tell you. Soutaicho-sama says that you've got permission to lift the limit should you feel you need to, since you've got no way to ask."

"Thanks," he paused before asking quietly, "What about Hinamori?"

Matsumoto looked down. "I'm sorry taicho. There's been no change."

He sighed. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault." He looked away.

"Taicho…"

"I'm heading back to Hogwarts. James, Lily!" he called. "I'm going back now, are you coming?"

Black glanced over. "I'll go later; tonight's the full moon. We'll be back tomorrow, right Jamie?"

James shook his head, causing Lupin and Black to look at him in surprise. "I'm sorry, you two. I haven't been able to change into Prongs using my reiryouku yet. Maybe next month?" he asked half-heartedly.

Black and Lupin exchanged glances. "That's okay, James. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"Yeah…"

Lupin smiled tiredly. "Don't feel guilty. I'll be fine for another month. Just make sure to come next time!"

James nodded, before taking hold of Lily's arm. "Let's walk back, Lils. I'll apparate us to Hogsmead."

Lily giggled. "Alright. If you splinch us, I'll kill you."

James laughed nervously. "I won't."

Hitsugaya turned back to Matsumoto, handing her a stack of papers. "Here are the reports for the Soutaicho," he said. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah," she sighed sadly, preparing to open a senkaimon. "Bye, taicho!"

* * *

(1) By now most of you should know that Lily has a healing type Zanpakuto, like Unohana and Hanatarou.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

* * *

The next month and a half passed by in a haze of research and memories. The flashbacks were coming more frequently now, though they tended to hurt less. Hitsugaya wasn't sure whether this was a good sign or not.

There had been no sign of the Dark Lord ever since his initial attack on Diagon Alley. While some thought that this was a good thing, most, including and especially the Order of the Phoenix, knew that Voldemort was up to something.

Relationships with Weasley and Granger had been even more strained ever since the Order meeting over a month ago. They both thought that they were in the right by trying to help, even if they knew that the way they had gone about it was wrong. And perhaps that was true, but Hitsugaya wasn't about to forget what Weasley had done. Now that Voldemort knew he was back, he was going to have to be doubly careful to keep his identity, or former identity anyway, a secret. Not only that, but this would undoubtedly shift Voldemort's attention back to Hogwarts, as that was the most likely place he'd be hiding. Which was, unfortunately, exactly where he was.

Voldemort was obsessed with the prophecy, and therefore Harry by proxy. He was going to do everything in his power to destroy him. It was that simple.

Hitsugaya sighed, dragging his thoughts back to the book he was reading. He'd never get anywhere if he kept distracting himself.

He idly flipped through the pages, hoping to catch a glimpse of something useful. He hadn't gotten very far in his research on the Founders. Despite their apparent fame, very little was actually known about them other than that they were powerful and had worked together to create Hogwarts. Not even their actual blood-status was known, though the purebloods certainly attempted to make everyone think that the four were from long lines.

This meant that there was basically almost nothing on any special items that might have belonged to the Founders, apart from one passage he had found about an enchanted diadem belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw. Unfortunately, there was so little on the crown's whereabouts, even mere speculation, that he doubted he'd be able to locate it.

Therefore he had begun his perusal of Voldemort's, or Tom Riddle he had since learned, memories. It was difficult, especially when he started having flashbacks in the middle of viewing them in his pensieve, but he managed to glean at least a little bit about his opponent.

Namely, Hufflepuff's Cup.

Finding out where the Cup was, however, was turning out to be even more frustrating than locating the Diadem. He hadn't even found any references to it anywhere outside of the memories. (And he had to wonder, just _where _had Dumbledore gotten those anyway?)

Hitsugaya all but slammed the book closed, earning a dirty look from Madame Pince. He was getting absolutely nowhere. He paused as he left the library, vaguely recalling something from the flashbacks he had when giving Matsumoto a tour of the castle.

Perhaps it was time to check out this Room of Requirements.

* * *

As it was a Friday, Hitsugaya's schedule had a free period before dinner, instead of the usual four classes. Being a first year was convenient for some things, he supposed; he didn't have to deal with the extra classes offered to third years and above.

He decided to use the time to explore the capabilities of the Room of Requirements. From what he remembered, the Room was particularly useful; if he thought about it, the Room could provide him with a number of references pertaining to his research. What he didn't know, though, and intended to find out, was the limits on what the Room could provide. If it only showed him the texts from the library, there wouldn't be any new material for him to look through. It all depended on where the Room got its materials.

Perhaps he'd get lucky. The Room of Requirements was a part of Hogwarts, and therefore built by the Founders, after all.

He felt two people coming up behind him and he hesitated before continuing at a slightly faster pace.

"Um, Hitsugaya?"

He stopped. "Yes, Granger?"

"Well, we, that is, Ron and I would like to apologize."

He sighed and gestured them to follow him to an empty classroom. This wasn't something the whole of Hogwarts needed to hear about.

Granger closed the door after them, eyes flicking nervously at him. Honestly, he wasn't _that_ scary. Well, maybe.

"We really are sorry, mate," Weasley mumbled. "I didn't mean…"

Hitsugaya sighed and interrupted. "I know you didn't mean to. The fact is that you _did_. You have to know the consequences of your actions, particularly in a war. One misstep could mean your life… or someone else's," he added softly.

"We know," Granger said. "We just wanted to help."

"If you really want to help, ask first. I'm sure we could come up with something useful for you to do… without risking your lives."

"It's just… the three of us, we always used to do these things together, and it always turned out okay in the end. We helped each other. That was the way things worked," she looked frustrated.

"We probably just got lucky. We were all inexperienced back then; you two still are. Dumbledore-san should never have rewarded us for breaking the rules, no matter the results. All it did was encourage poor behavior, and look where that's gotten us now. We were extremely fortunate that it wasn't more serious than it is."

"More serious?" Weasley asked.

"Yes. You could have died."

He made a face. "I would gladly die to help put that bastard six feet under!"

"Are you sure about that? What you have to realize, Weasley, is that the Order is doing this for _you_. Maybe not just you, personally, but for every child they see that could be harmed in this war. And you put yourself directly in harm's way. Yes, we were all angry at what you said, but most of us were more upset at the possibility of you getting hurt. I can take care of myself; you're still just a student."

"You never cared about that before."

"And before I was an inexperienced teenager that had never known there to be any consequences other than good ones. Like I said before, we were lucky," Hitsugaya said, frustrated. This was quickly degenerating into another argument, and that was something he would rather avoid. "Look, if you want to help, come with me to the Room of Requirement. I'm going to see if it has any good references on the Founders and any artifacts they may have left behind."

"Founder's artifacts?" Granger asked curiously, attention successfully diverted.

"Yes. Voldemort has proven to have a healthy interest in anything related to the Founders," he said, opening the door. "But the library has surprisingly little information on them. I'm hoping that the Room will be able to provide more research material."

"Is there anything specific that you're looking for?"

He nodded. "I'll tell you when we get there."

Hopefully this would stop them from doing anything too reckless for a while. Plus, they might actually find something.

Hitsugaya hoped so, because he wanted to end this as soon as possible.

* * *

When they got to the Room of Requirements, it was in the shape of a library. Wide, arching windows and towering bookcases filled the room. There were a few tables scattered around the room for browsing the thick tomes, and large, comfortable looking chairs to read in.

Hitsugaya walked up to the nearest shelf and pulled out one of the books, glancing at the title. _Quattuor._

He placed the book back on the shelf and looked at the neat label on the bookcase. It was marked, 'Latin: Q-Z, by Title.'

The entire library was filled with books on the Founders… just in multiple languages. Hitsugaya didn't mind; he knew quite a few languages because all shinigami needed to know at least two, and he hadn't wanted to limit himself. After all, shinigami took care of souls all over the world; it wouldn't do to wave around a sword in some random spirit's general direction shouting foreign words at him or her. That could get messy rather quickly.

Granger had already started looking through the tomes in the English section. Weasley, however, appeared to be a little lost.

"Granger, if you are fluent in any foreign languages I would appreciate it if you would start there. Weasley can take care of the English books. Find any references you can about Ravenclaw's Diadem and Hufflepuff's Cup."

Granger nodded and headed to the French section of the library, but Weasley frowned. "Would you cut that out?"

"What?"

"Calling us by our last names! It makes you sound like bloody Malfoy!"

"Language, Ron," Granger called absently, looking through a book at least three inches thick.

Hitsugaya opened his mouth to object, but ended up sighing instead. It really would go a lot faster if he just gave in, and he was getting sick of arguing with Weasley. "Fine."

"Fine what?"

Was he seriously going to make him say it? "Fine, _Ronald_," he could practically _hear_ Granger… Hermione smiling.

Ron looked irritated, but let it slide. Hitsugaya supposed that he was just glad that he was calling him by his first name at all. Honestly, why would he want his name shortened anyway?

He browsed through the Japanese section of the library (And really, how famous were these Founders to be told about in so many different languages?) when his senses picked up on something. He paused in his perusal of the books and focused on finding the reiatsu. It felt dark… like Slytherin's Locket!

But where was it? It felt almost as if it were coming from the entire Room. Was it hidden in here? He paused to think on the sheer stupidity of that. If it really was hidden here, then Voldemort was just asking for it to be found. Why would he hide it someplace his enemies were familiar with? Hogwarts was important to him, true, but the risk was astronomical.

"Room," he said aloud, hoping that it would work, "give me the Horcrux." Hermione and Ron stared at him for a moment, but when he didn't give any explanation they turned back to their books.

Hitsugaya could feel the magic of the Room fluctuating, as if it were fighting with itself. The item he wanted was asked to be hidden, but now someone was asking it to be found. The contradictory orders were confusing the magic.

Finally, slowly, a silver crown started to appear on the table conveniently in front of him. It could only be one thing: Ravenclaw's Diadem.

Carefully he wrapped the Diadem in his robes, taking care not to actually touch it. He recalled vividly Dumbledore's blackened hand.

Then it started. A slow rumbling noise could be heard faintly, then growing louder and louder. The magic of the Room was still fluctuating, more wildly now and feeling almost… angry. The stone floor beneath his feet groaned and shifted.

"Ronald, Hermione, get out of here now!" The two scrambled to their feet and ran to the door, Hitsugaya only a moment behind. They were just in time. As soon as they stepped outside one of the bookcases collapsed, starting a chain reaction. Heavy tomes avalanched to the ground with random items that hadn't been there before. Couches, trunks, jewelry and other junk that the Room was clearly summoning toppled and rolled in huge waves.

The door slammed closed on its own, sealing itself into the wall.

Ron stared at him, eyes wide. "What the bloody hell did you _do_?"

Hitsugaya could only stare in disbelief. "I think I broke the Room of Requirements."

* * *

They got to the Great Hall about half an hour later, after Hitsugaya had destroyed the Horcrux with Gryffindor's sword. Hermione had actually worked up the nerve to ask what it was and why it had to be destroyed, but he hadn't told her. She'd been irritated, but Hitsugaya had coolly informed her that since she didn't need to know, he saw no need to risk any leaks.

Hermione, far too used to knowing everything that Harry had known, gave him the silent treatment. Hitsugaya just rolled his eyes at her behavior and sat down next to Lovegood.

The entire Great Hall was decked out in black and orange décor, with huge jack-o-lanterns and live bats fluttering above the students' heads. The Hogwarts ghosts only added to the effect, especially with the Gryffindor House ghost getting into the mood and swinging his head off his neck periodically. Sweets of various sizes and flavors filled the tables; it was both disgusting and hard to find anything to eat with his zero tolerance for candy.

Lovegood smiled at him. "Hello, Toshiro."

He twitched. "Lovegood," he acknowledged. No matter where he went there was always _someone_ who refused to call him by anything other than his given name.

"Have you remembered yet?"

"…Remembered?" he asked nervously. He vividly recalled their conversation at the start of term.

"I guess not," she said, though the eerie smile was still there. "Don't forget to send me a letter next summer, though, Harry. It was dreadful without anyone to talk to last summer, though the hunt for Crumple-Horned Snorkaks went well. Daddy and I found signs of an entire pack of them near Mt. Hiei, so we'll probably visit Japan again soon. I was thinking of convincing him to get a hotel in Karakura. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

"…Thrilling," he replied faintly, glad that no one ever sat near enough to them to listen in on their conversations. He briefly thought of Lovegood meeting Urahara and shuddered. No, that should be avoided at all costs.

There had been far too many shocks to his system today, he decided, moving onto a new topic. He really needed to find out how the hell Lovegood knew these things.

An owl passed over their table, partially hidden by the cloud of bats. It headed straight for Dumbledore, who took the letter clutched in its talons and glanced through it. It was clearly something important. Dumbledore leaned over and whispered something in Lily's ear. She frowned. Hitsugaya knew he'd have to speak with Lily tonight.

* * *

After the feast Hitsugaya headed over to Lily's quarters. If anyone asked, all he wanted was a quick word with his mother, which was technically the truth anyway, just not one that he cared to think about.

James was already there. "Hey, Hitsugaya," he said lazily.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Gryffindor Tower?"

James shrugged. "I'm _supposed_ to be in detention. I set off a few hexes in Transfiguration today. McGonagall told me I'd be serving detention with 'Professor Hitsugaya' tonight. She must really hate that all these detentions I've been getting is my cover for meeting with you guys."

Lily snorted. "I would too. You are absolutely insufferable sometimes, James. Honestly, you could use remedial Defense classes as an excuse instead."

James looked affronted. "But then I'd have to do badly in my second best class!"

"It's not like these grades are going to count for anything. We're going back to Soul Society as soon as the mission's over."

"Bless my soul! Lily Potter nee Evans, actually telling me to get bad grades!" he cried dramatically. "Quick, Hitsugaya, check outside! Is it raining fire yet?"

"Don't drag me into this."

"I did not _tell_ you to get bad grades!"

"Right," he grinned. "You just suggested it."

Lily threw a book at him.

"Ow! You trying to kill me, woman?" James asked, putting a hand over his rapidly reddening nose.

They both froze as the temperature dropped. "Has Dumbledore contacted you about anything tonight?"

Lily sighed as the atmosphere switched from playful to business. "Yes, actually. There's been a series of attacks on muggles tonight," she said, grabbing a folder from the coffee table in the middle of the room "Thirteen simultaneous murders of the families of muggleborns that all come to Hogwarts."

"So what's in the folder?" James asked.

"It's all the information that the Order has collected so far. It's not much. The Aurors are still at the scenes. Kingsley and Tonks should have completed reports by the end of tomorrow, but I thought you'd want to see this," Lily replied, handing the folder to Hitsugaya.

He took it, pulling out a series of photographs. The first one was an outside shot of a victim's house. The Dark Mark hovered above, its green light illuminating the partially destroyed home.

"Normally Death Eaters don't do this much damage to buildings," Lily said. "They go in, have fun with their victims, and use the Avada Kedavra. Then they cast the Dark Mark and leave."

"What about Godric's Hollow then?" he asked, having heard the story from Black when he asked a bit about Harry's history. He'd heard that the house had been demolished.

"That wasn't intentional. It was the backlash from the failed Killing Curse that destroyed Godric's Hollow, not any work of the Death Eaters."

Hitsugaya nodded and looked at the photos more closely. There were gaping tears in the walls that appeared to have been caused by claws, and one house even looked like it had acid spit on it at one point. "Hollows?" he asked. Most of the scenes had all the markings of a hollow attack.

Lily nodded. "We'd already suspected that hollows have been aiding Voldemort," she said. "But now we've confirmed it. The question is: Why? How can Voldemort control these hollows?"

James shook his head in exasperation. "How does he do anything?"

Hitsugaya glared. "Regardless of how you feel on the matter, we need to know. Soul Society has to know so that we can prevent something like this from happening again."

"Do you think it has anything to do with his Horcruxes? I mean, they mess with his soul quite a bit."

"It's possible, but I doubt it."

"What _does_ happen to a soul piece after you destroy the Horcrux, anyway?"

"It reattaches itself to one of the other pieces. They can't move on until they are whole again. Speaking of which, I managed to find another one today."

James choked. "And you didn't tell us before, why?"

"There wasn't time to," Hitsugaya said mildly, before adding, "That, and I'm not obligated to report to you anyway."

James snorted. "Gee, thanks."

Lily sighed. "So there's only two left now? His snake and you think Hufflepuff's Cup?"

"Yes, though locating the Cup has been difficult," Hitsugaya paused. "And I may have possibly ruined our best chance of finding it through research."

James and Lily stared at him. "Wait, say that again?" James asked.

Hitsugaya gave them a quick rundown of the Room of Requirements and what had happened in it. Lily groaned.

"I can't believe it," she moaned. "I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one!"

Hitsugaya glared.

A few hours later saw them all to their respective rooms. Hitsugaya trudged wearily into bed, happy that the day was over. There were just too many things to worry about. He would be glad when this mission finally ended.

He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

* * *

The next few weeks saw a gloomy student body. Almost every morning after the attacks on Halloween ministry owls could be seen flying toward muggleborn students, black notification letters clutched in their talons. Death notifications to 'express their most sincere condolences.'

What bullshit, James scowled. The ministry didn't give a damn. They were controlled by purebloods and their so-called 'pureblood supremacy.'

"John?"

James blinked as Louis, one of the seventh year boys, called his… well his fake, anyway… name. "Yeah?"

"Uh, you okay, mate? 'Cause I don't think your dinner can take much more of that."

James looked down to where his hand and fork were working in tandem to grind his food into nothingness. He dropped his fork and groaned.

"Is it your detention tonight? You know, if you'd stop pranking anything that moves you wouldn't get into trouble so much."

"Stop such blasphemous words from ever leaving your mouth, you cur! Me _not _pranking would be practically sacrilege!" James cried, affronted. Stop pranking? Then who would teach that dirty snake Snivellus his proper place?

"Alright! Hell, mate, it was just a suggestion."

James paused at the unexpected response, remembering suddenly that it wasn't Sirius that he was bantering with. This kid didn't even know him that well. "Sorry."

Louis just shrugged and turned back to his friends.

James sighed, wishing that Sirius (who technically was, but it was kind of hard to talk with a dog) and Remus were here. As immature as he was sometimes, there was an entire wealth of difference between him and the average seventeen year old. He just couldn't seem to click with any of them. What was worse was that he couldn't even rant to Lily about it. No, instead he had to wait for a detention with her; and _tha_t time would be spent mostly discussing more important things. But she was his _wife_, for crying out loud!

He paused, recalling the words his son had said to him at Grimmauld.

"_But we'd also have to act the parts of students and professor the entire time we would be there. Could you do that, James?"_

James groaned again, burying his face in his hands. He ignored the looks he was getting from the other seventh years.

Could he? He hadn't realized exactly how little time he'd be able to spend with Lily, Remus, and Sirius during his time at Hogwarts. He had known it wouldn't be much, but it hadn't really sunk in until now.

Apart from that, James remembered how long it had taken them to get to Diagon during the attack there. If Hitsugaya hadn't been in the office at the time, he would have had to waste time escaping his classmates without suspicion like he himself had. They had been lucky that the Death Eaters hadn't blocked the floo by the time they had gotten there.

_And, _thought James, _we_ _weren't able to respond to the Halloween attacks at all._

"_I'm not sure that would be wise. Being there would only restrict our movements."_

Was coming to Hogwarts a mistake? They had come here for the research and the fact that Hogwarts was important to Voldemort, but so far the research was a failure and Voldemort had changed his tactics, and priorities, recently. Targeting muggles directly wasn't exactly new, but now Voldemort was focusing almost solely on getting rid of them instead of taking over the wizarding world.

Something had changed.

"John?" Louis was watching him again.

James sighed. "I'm going out for a while. If any of the teachers ask I'm in bed sick, okay?"

"Okay…?"

Maybe a run would help clear his head. Flying might have helped, but the teachers could spot him out there. He'd head to the Forbidden Forest instead of the Pitch.

Besides, he grinned, he'd just mastered changing into Prongs again.

* * *

Hitsugaya couldn't believe he had let Ron talk him into this.

They (Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and himself) were all outside, standing by the broom shed. Somehow, he had let Ron talk him into flying. Had he been hit in the head recently? Or maybe he just missed it. He hadn't been able to train his Bankai in quite some time, after all.

Regardless of the reason, here he was, holding a broomstick and feeling, for once, incredibly stupid.

He was supposed to fly on a tool meant for _cleaning_? He was suddenly quite glad that he had missed flying lessons at the first of the year because he'd been meeting with Dumbledore. Seriously, a _broom_?

Hermione looked at him. "Don't worry, I think flying on a broom is a bit ridiculous myself," she said, probably in what she thought was a consoling manner. "I mean, I didn't really think it was possible for witches and wizards to possibly stereotype themselves even more, but I suppose all those stories had to come from _somewhere_."

Hermione was notably the only one not holding a broom. She was just going for 'moral support.'

Ginny (Ron had actually growled at him when he'd called her 'Weasley.' Just how many people was he supposed to address this familiarly?) smiled at him. "Ignore her; she has no idea what she's missing. Besides, you used to love flying. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun."

Hitsugaya stared at the broom again. "…Of course."

Ron grinned and mounted his broom. "I'll meet you at the pitch!"

"Oh, honestly!" Hermione huffed indignantly, walking toward the stands. "He could at least wait for us to get there!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "C'mon Hitsugaya. Let's fly there too."

"How?"

"Like this!" Ginny replied, slowly mounting her broomstick. She showed him the proper grip and pushed into the air. "What're you waiting for?"

He stared at the broom in his hands again dubiously. It wasn't in as good condition as Ginny's or Ron's; they each had their own brooms to use while he was using one from the school's ancient collection. Technically he had his own also, but a Firebolt was way too flashy. The only student at Hogwarts to have ever had one was Harry Potter, and using it would make the connection between him and Harry too easy to make.

Hitsugaya mounted his broom and leapt into the air, reveling in the feeling of the sharp bite of winter wind. The cold air felt good, though Ginny looked like she was wishing she had worn something warmer.

He dove and spiraled through the sky, marveling at the ease and precision with which the broom flew. The wings of Hyourinmaru gave him more control, but the speed of the broomstick was exhilarating. It wasn't as fulfilling as using Hyourinmaru, though. There was simply no comparison. This wasn't anything like his Bankai, but it _was_ nice to be in the air again.

Ron called out as soon as they neared the pitch. "Hey! This is great, isn't it, Hitsugaya?"

Ginny huffed. "You just want to say 'I told you so!'"

"Well I did!"

"You are impossible!"

Hitsugaya ignored them, instead focusing his efforts on spiraling through the air. He vaguely saw Hermione watching from the stands and pulled sharply up, before twisting into a dive. The old school broom fought with him as he tried to go faster than it was made to go.

He sped past Ginny and Ron, who were looking at him smugly. Yeah, he enjoyed flying. So what?

"Why don't we let out the snitch?" Ron shouted, and flew of to get the Quidditch equipment. In less than three minutes a tiny, winged ball was streaking through the sky. It glinted gold in the sunlight. The snitch suddenly seemed to change, the shape of an egg superimposing itself over the bright ball.

Hitsugaya slowed down, paling slightly when he felt the familiar feeling of a memory. Not now…

_He felt the heat of flames behind him as he dove toward a sparkling gold egg. The roar of the beast behind him was terrifying, but the thrill of the chase was exhilarating. The lake was cold, but he went in anyway. He had to find his best friend. He heard the crowds cheering. He clumsily danced in the Great Hall, stopping as soon as possible. Giant, towering hedges formed twisting and confusing pathways around him. He was there, reaching for the Triwizard Cup with Cedric…_

Darkness edged his vision. Reality was blurring with the memories. Hermione was there, waving her wand and crying out an incantation. He was in the graveyard, watching the ritual unfold. He felt himself falling... The golden dome of light surrounded him and he saw Lily and James, pearly white and transparent. The last thing he heard was the sound of Hyourinmaru's hailstone roar as he slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Hitsugaya woke to the sharp scent of antiseptic and bright white sheets. He groaned, drawing the attention of several people inside the Hospital Wing. Lily rushed to his side. "Hitsugaya-kun, are you all right?"

He moaned as his head gave a particularly painful throb. "Will you be quiet?" he whispered harshly. His hadn't had a headache this bad since the memory of the Room of Requirements.

"Oi!" James snapped. "She's only worried about you!"

"And I'm sure you'd love it if I brought a hammer to your head out of concern. Now _shut up_." Why was James there anyway? He wasn't supposed to know him.

Madame Pomfrey clicked her tongue. "You have a headache? Why didn't you say so? Here, drink this," she said, shoving a vial into his hands. He didn't even glance at it, downing the potion in one swift motion. He felt the sharp pain in his head recede a bit and he sighed in relief.

Madame Pomfrey left the room in a huff after giving him a stern warning not to leave the Hospital Wing early.

Hitsugaya absently wondered where Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had gone. After all, he had seemingly randomly collapsed on them while they were flying.

"I told your friends to wait for you at the dorm," Lily said, catching his look.

Hitsugaya frowned a bit at that. 'Friends' was going just a little too far. In any case, there were more important things to worry about.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Lily asked gently. "This has never happened before, has it?"

"I'm fine. No, it hasn't. I thought that these… episodes… were getting less severe. It seems I was mistaken."

James rolled his eyes. "No kidding."

"Is there any chance of something like this happening again?"

"There might be. The memories need some sort of trigger. If, perhaps, there was something else that was largely connected to another string of memories, it might happen again. I don't know what to watch out for."

"Can it get any worse?"

"In the worst case scenario I could fall into a coma while my mind compensates for a sudden influx of information, but that is highly unlikely. The trigger would need to be connected to an enormous amount of memories. The only thing that would have that many connections that comes to mind would be a person, and I don't seem to recall much, if anything, by interacting with people."

Lily bit her lip. "Have you… thought of anything that could make these episodes stop?"

"Apart from remembering everything completely? No. Not while we still need to be here."

"I've been thinking about that, actually," James interjected. "Maybe we should leave Hogwarts."

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

James shrugged. "Halloween, amongst other things. I mean, Voldemort's suddenly changed his attack patterns. Right now he's focusing solely on muggles, and he's gotten smarter about how to attack them too. It's _hard_ to defend multiple locations, especially in the muggle world… I mean, how do we know he's even going to attack Hogwarts? That's one of the main reasons we came, right?"

Lily frowned. "He'll have to eventually. Hogwarts still remains one of the Light's strongholds. He will _have_ to attack it."

"But how many muggles are going to die in the mean time?"

"Maybe that's why he's doing it. Maybe he's trying to draw our attention away from Hogwarts."

"Regardless," Hitsugaya interrupted, "I doubt we could get to the muggles in time anyway. When you add a wizard's ability to apparate and create portkeys into the equation, it makes defense that much more difficult. By the time we have the location pinned down and we get ready to go, they've already left. We will stay at Hogwarts for now."

James nodded. Despite the fact that he was the one that suggested leaving, he didn't look all that upset.

"Voldemort," Hitsugaya abruptly changed the subject, "is not really alive, is he?"

Lily blinked. "As far as we know, he is. The Horcruxes kept him alive until he could create himself a new body."

Hitsugaya shook his head. "No. What the Horcruxes did was keep his soul bound to the earth in a way that normal spirits aren't. He had the ability to influence the living, but he was, is, still dead."

"How does that change things?" James asked. "I don't really see how it affects the mission. We still need to send him to Hell."

Lily looked scandalized. "James!"

"Well you didn't think he was going to Soul Society did you?"

"Don't swear."

"It affects the mission," Hitsugaya said loudly, "because Voldemort is not alive."

"You just said that."

"And because he is not alive," he continued, ignoring James, "he is turning into a hollow."

There was silence for a moment. "What?"

"The Horcruxes have mutated and slowed the process somewhat, but he is turning into a Hollow. That's why it has taken well over a decade instead of a scant few months."

"When did you figure this out?"

"Just now. The memories I received were of the Triwizard Tournament and what happened afterward. Harry managed to catch a brief glimpse of Voldemort's spirit as he was making a new body. It was partially a hollow by that point; not that Harry knew it at the time."

"But he has a body doesn't he? Isn't he alive _now_?"

"Are _we_? No. All he did was create some sort of gigai using more arcane methods than we use in Soul Society. He's still dead."

"But a _hollow_? Can he still change while he's in his gigai?"

"Most likely. Either he will shed the gigai or the gigai will change with him. I don't know."

There was silence for a few minutes as they all took the time to absorb that information.

"What's most important," Hitsugaya spoke up, "is that the Horcrux mutated the process. The hollow didn't look like any kind I have ever seen before. There was something off about it. In other words, we don't know when Voldemort will be fully transformed, or what sort of powers he will have."

* * *

A few days later saw a relatively excited student body. At least, those who weren't muggleborn were excited. Christmas break was coming, but many of the muggleborns were staying at Hogwarts for the holidays.

After all, few of them had family to return to.

Hermione was one of the fortunate few that still had living relatives, as sadly surprising as it was. She had thought her family would be one of the first attacked, given her position. Luckily they hadn't, and now the Order had set up wards to protect them.

She would be returning to Grimmauld for break, though on Christmas day she would briefly return to her parents' house to exchange gifts. It was safer that way.

Ron and Ginny would both be staying at Grimmauld as well, seeing as their entire family (sans Percy) were living there for the time being.

Hitsugaya supposed that he'd be headed for Grimmauld too… with James and Lily of course. He recalled vividly when Hermione had cornered him and asked what he was doing for break.

"_Are you coming back to Headquarters for Christmas?" She decided against using his name. She usually avoided calling him anything, uncomfortable with using his last name but knowing that he loathed being called 'Harry' or 'Toshiro.'_

"_Christmas?"_

_She seemed surprised. "You don't know what Christmas is?"_

_Hitsugaya scowled. "I know what it is, but generally Soul Society doesn't celebrate it. I didn't really think about it."_

"_It doesn't? Why?"_

"_Most of Rukongai is too poor to spend any money on such frivolous traditions, and shinigami don't take leave for such things. It doesn't really matter much anyway. Time passes so quickly in Soul Society to those of us that have lived there long enough that we don't really notice when the dates go by."_

_Hermione didn't look like she knew what to say to that. "But you'll be celebrating Christmas with us won't you? I mean," she added hastily, "you can work from Grimmauld for a while… and you could have some of your friends visit too. Isn't Matsumoto coming for another visit? You could have her stay a little longer." She rambled, slightly nervous._

_Hitsugaya didn't really need that much convincing. It was unlikely that Voldemort would attack the castle any time soon; he wasn't at full strength yet. And James and Lily probably needed a break. (He kind of wanted one too, not that he'd admit it.) Only… did he really want Matsumoto around for that long? Well, it wasn't like she'd be doing any work anyway… "I guess…"_

"_Great!" Hermione beamed. "You'd better remember to tell James and Lily. I'm sure they'll want to get their shopping done soon… Oh, they'll be happy to see Professor Lupin, too_. _Sirius will be excited to be human again, I'm sure…"_

_Hitsugaya just shook his head in exasperation._

_

* * *

_

A/N Whoa, this chapter took forever. I spent like two weeks on it because I couldn't figure out what the heck I was doing. Later!


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

* * *

James was excited. They were finally getting a break from Hogwarts! Not that he didn't love the school, because he did, but he hated staying with a group of seventeen year olds instead of his wife, friends, and his son.

He grabbed his messily packed trunk and ran toward the train. Lily would kill him if he was late.

The station was less crowded than usual, he noticed sadly. Fewer students were going home this year because of Voldemort. Either they didn't want to go home to empty houses or it was simply safer at Hogwarts.

James shook his head. It wouldn't do to be grumpy all break! Voldemort would fall… he didn't have to be unhappy just because he hadn't yet.

The train ride passed quickly. It was perhaps fortunate because James was bored sitting by himself. He wasn't really friends with the other seventh years and he wasn't supposed to know his own family.

In any case, now that it was over he could see them all he wanted. He smiled cheerfully and apparated to Grimmauld.

The house was surprisingly cheerful, he noticed. The Weasleys were all setting up holiday decorations, with Molly directing a procession of cooking materials to make what appeared to be a feast. Remus was helping out, humming carols to himself as he hung tinsel on the stairs.

Hitsugaya, Lily, Sirius, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione all arrived about a minute later from the fireplace. James noted with amusement that Hitsugaya was the only one that fell upon arrival. Really, disregarding the fact that he was his son, watching a shinigami captain fall flat on his face was just too funny.

He stood quickly and dusted himself off. "Matsumoto should be here soon," he said calmly, looking for all the world like he hadn't just smacked the floor with his face.

James snorted. "How soon?" he asked, uselessly because just as he said it a large gateway appeared in the middle of the room.

"Hi, taicho!" The blonde was waving enthusiastically from the gate, though she seemed a little less cheerful than last time. She didn't move to hug Hitsugaya.

"Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya had actually braced himself for it, and looked slightly confused when she didn't move.

Her smile faded a bit. "Uh, taicho… someone else came here for the holidays, too."

He blinked. "Who?" James started. Hitsugaya hadn't felt anyone? Whoever it was must be really good at hiding their reiatsu.

A small figure stepped out from behind Matsumoto. Hitsugaya paled.

"H-Hinamori?"

Hitsugaya couldn't believe it. What was Unohana thinking? Why was Hinamori here and not at the Fourth Division? He resolved to ask Matsumoto about it later.

Hinamori was smiling at him. "Shiro-chan! I heard from Kira and Renji that you invited Matsumoto-san over here for Christmas. Unohana-taicho said that I could come too! Look! I got you a present!" She held out a brightly wrapped parcel. Hitsugaya gently took it and set it aside, painfully aware that all eyes were on them.

"It's just too bad…" Hinamori looked down, "that Aizen-taicho isn't here to celebrate with us." She smiled brightly, "But he might come later! After all, Aizen-taicho never takes long on his missions. I'm sure he'll be home soon!"

Matsumoto's smile seemed frozen on her face, and he saw James and Lily shoot the girl alarmed glances. It was to be expected, he supposed. Neither of them knew anything about Hinamori and, well… they only knew Aizen as a traitor.

"I'm sure he will," he said indulgently. If he didn't she would likely fly into an explosive temper. It happened every time someone told her the truth. That was not something that needed to happen, especially not here. "Come on. Let's go find you a room." He took her hand and led her up the stairs, trying to ignore the surprised stares he was getting from his kind-of parents and would-be friends.

"I'm so happy that I got to come! I haven't seen you in a while, Shiro-chan…"

* * *

James gaped openly in the direction the two had gone. "Who was that?"

Sirius, who had just changed back from a dog, gave him a weird look. "You mean you don't know? And what does 'Shiro-chan' mean?"

James shook his head. "No. And the way she was talking about Aizen…"

"Who's Aizen? And are you going to answer my other question?"

Matsumoto was no longer smiling. "He's no one you need to worry about," she said tightly. Her silver gaze flicked over to Lily and James. "If you two want to know I suppose I can tell you. I think you two deserve to know… so you can understand taicho a little better. I know he won't tell you much himself."

"Are you sure that's okay? I don't want to get you in trouble with Hitsugaya…" Lily said.

She nodded. "Just don't bother him about it."

"Oi! What about us?" Ron asked, waving his arm in the general direction of everyone. "We're his friends too! Who is she?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I don't think taicho's relationship with Hinamori has anything to do with you. I'm only telling James-kun and Lily-chan because they're his parents… whether taicho likes it or not." There was the slightest tinge of ice in her voice and Ron backed down without another word.

Matsumoto beckoned the duo into an empty room, and Lily cast a few small wards just in case Hitsugaya's friends decided to eavesdrop.

"Hinamori-san… she, well, she's Hitsugaya-taicho's sister. They grew up in Rukongai together…" she briefly explained everything up to Aizen's attack on Karakura. "She was doing a lot better then. She tried to help us defeat the arrancar… but Aizen said something to her and when he died…" she looked down, "she went mad. She's delusional. She won't listen to a bad word about Aizen and if you even mention his death…" she shrugged. "Taicho and Unohana-taicho have both been working very hard to help her over the past three years, but she hasn't seemed to get any better. I mean, she has her good days and bad days, but… Mostly you can't really tell. It's just anything concerning Aizen…"

"I see," Lily said softly.

"So why'd she get sent here?" James asked.

"Unohana-taicho thought it'd be good for her to get out of Soul Society for a while. Maybe some new scenery will help a bit?" she shrugged again. "Plus, Hinamori really did want to go. No one's seen her act this excited about anything in a long time."

"But at Hitsugaya's expense?" James asked sharply. "This is supposed to be a holiday for us, and now he has to take care of her? Just looking at him once you can tell he's upset."

"Don't let taicho hear you say that, James-kun. He'll do anything for her, even if it's only defending her from a perceived insult. She's family to him. She's more important to him than anything or anyone here. Including you."

* * *

Sirius cursed from outside the door. First they ignore him and then they don't let him listen in? What the heck? Hitsugaya was his godson (kind-of, anyway) too! He hated being ignored.

And he really, really wanted to know the answer to his other question.

* * *

The next few days were only marginally tense, as no one but the shinigami even knew there was anything wrong with their extra guest. Indeed, Molly Weasley even adored the (in her eyes) child, who was nothing but polite and sweet to everyone. Perhaps she was a bit obsessive about a guy named Aizen, but, to the wizards at least, there was nothing wrong with that.

Hitsugaya and Hinamori stuck to each other like glue. Where one was, the other was never very far away. James and Lily both found it irritating, especially because she made it even harder to talk to their already reclusive son than it normally was.

What was worse was that Molly found it adorable. She seemed bound and determined to misinterpret their relationship as something more than it was, and continually made things uncomfortable with her talk of how 'cute they were together.' In all honesty, Hitsugaya had never even considered any sort of relationship with Hinamori other than their familial brother-sister one.

Hitsugaya, at least, didn't seem to mind Hinamori's clingy and somewhat possessive behavior all that much. As far as he was concerned, the more time she spent concentrating on things other than Aizen the better. If that meant that she spent all of her time with him than who was he to say no?

James was disgusted by it all.

The last few days had put James in a terrible mood. Sirius and Remus tried to help, but neither of them knew much about the situation at all. Eventually they gave up and hoped that he'd be feeling better by the next day, preferring to spend their time with people less prone to snap at them. Why not enjoy the magnificent dinner Molly had prepared instead of spending their night with a grump? They loved James, but when he was in a temper…

How dare she? James held his cup in a white-knuckled grip, ignoring the worried look Lily was shooting him. How _dare_ she? How dare she try to kill his son and have the nerve to cling to him without so much as an apology? How dare she have the gall to still be hung up over a traitor? Every time she mentioned Aizen it felt like she was spitting in their faces and stomping on the graves of all those that had died in the Winter War. She might pretend that all was fine with the world, but James would not.

The cup shattered, spilling juice and shards of glass all over the table. James cursed in the sudden silence that ensued, hissing at the tiny cuts that now covered his hand.

Hinamori broke the silence with her soft, sweet voice. "Are you okay, Potter-kun?" She watched him with concerned brown eyes and he hated it.

James glowered at her. "No," he bit out through clenched teeth.

"Watch your tone," Hitsugaya snapped.

James narrowed his eyes. "I will not."

Matsumoto stiffened in her seat, eyes wide. "James…" she said warningly.

"No! I don't care if I'm being rude! She deserves it!"

The wizards, who had no idea what was going on, were stunned by James's attitude. Anyone who knew him knew that he could be hot-tempered at times, but acting this way to their guest, who had been nothing but kind to them?

"Potter," Hitsugaya growled, ignoring how strange that must have sounded to everyone else. "Get out. We will discuss your behavior later."

"Why don't we discuss _her_ behavior right now?"

Hitsugaya rose to his full height, which, while admittedly rather unimpressive, seemed to make him far more intimidating than just a second ago. He let his reiatsu leak a bit and the temperature plummeted. "If you have a problem with Hinamori," he said coldly, words coming out a puff of white, seeming almost like smoke curling out of a dragon's mouth, "take it up with me in a more appropriate setting. I refuse to speak more on this matter here."

James opened his mouth to respond but Lily yanked him down, holding his arm in a vice grip. "James," she said harshly, "you are out of line."

"But she…"

"None of us need this conversation to be public. Sit down and finish eating or leave the room until you've calmed down. We can talk about this later. And for Merlin's sake, James, use a little _tact_!"

James glowered again and stomped out of the room. Hitsugaya slowly sat down. "Don't worry about it," he muttered to Hinamori, who looked confused and upset. "James is just upset. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

She nodded nervously and poked at her food.

The meal concluded in tense silence.

* * *

After dinner was over Hitsugaya sent Hinamori to bed, and she left with hardly a protest. She knew he was going to confront James, and she resolved to leave the matter with him. Hitsugaya could solve the problem. He was good at that. Perhaps not as strong and outwardly kind as Aizen-taicho, but he always protected her.

Hinamori smiled as she drifted off to sleep. As long as Shiro-chan was with her, she could stand to wait for Aizen-taicho a little longer.

James watched as Hitsugaya paced in front of him, looking almost like an angry feline. He crossed his arms and waited impatiently as Hitsugaya stopped and looked at him. There was no expression on the taicho's face. Lily stood off to the side, lips pursed and frowning. She was definitely upset with someone; and James was pretty sure he knew _who_.

"I will not," Hitsugaya finally spoke, "tolerate this kind of behavior. I don't know how Komamura-taicho runs his division, but I doubt he does either. You will apologize to Hinamori first thing in the morning."

James scowled. Did he really think that this would be resolved so easily? He was not going to apologize. He said as much. "No."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I'm not going to apologize to her… _sir_." The last word was said mockingly and Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes.

"Are you disrespecting my authority? Think carefully about what you're doing, Potter. There are consequences for disobeying a superior officer within the Gotei 13."

"Even if that officer is too stupid to know when someone is hurting him?" James spat in frustration.

"Hinamori is ill."

"Oh so you do know who I'm talking about! What is she to you that she can get away with hurting you so damn much all the time? That's not what a 'sister' is. Sisters don't get away with nearly murdering their brothers for a traitor. Sisters don't care so much about traitors that they're willing to believe in them even after they've almost murdered so many people."

"You know _nothing_. You will apologize to Hinamori tomorrow and I will speak with Komamura-taicho about your behavior when we return to Soul Society. Now get out of my sight before I do something we both regret."

"I'm not done yet!"

"But I am. Get. Out."

James snarled and left, Lily following after him. She looked at him. "You handled that spectacularly."

He glowered.

* * *

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around the issue still hadn't been resolved. James refused to apologize and that, in turn, put Hitsugaya in a terrible mood. With the two arguing, none of the rest of the household was having very much fun either. Sirius and Remus in particular were irritable, having their best friend and godson back for the holidays but neither really wanted anything to do with them while they were having their, as Sirius put it, 'prolonged temper tantrum.'

Lily refused to speak to either of them while they were behaving the way they were, and that, unfortunately, put James in an even worse mood.

The Weasleys and Hermione, as the only other main occupants of the manor, were also upset. They still set up decorations, wrapped presents, and sung carols, but there wasn't as much heart in it as before. The bad mood was infectious. Even Mrs. Weasley seemed more irritable than usual.

Matsumoto was as cheerful as always, if only to try to cheer everyone else up. She was constantly and enthusiastically having her fun and dragging others into it. It worked, to a certain extent, on everyone save her taicho and his father. In the end, out of sheer desperation, she turned to an age-old trick.

She locked the two in a room and refused to let them out, praying that they'd resolve things instead of killing each other.

"Matsumoto! Open the door or I'll _break it down_!"

"No you won't, taicho! You two are going to stay in there and figure things out! You don't want Hinamori-san upset on Christmas, do you?"

That was a low blow, but Hitsugaya recognized the point. Hinamori had been somewhat confused and upset since James had so unfairly yelled at her. She didn't know why either of them were mad. She was supposed to be here for her recovery, dammit! He glared at James.

James glared back. "I will not apologize," he said flatly.

Hitsugaya hissed in frustration. "Whether or not you actually apologize is no longer relevant. I don't care what your personal feelings toward Hinamori are; I do not want you to compromise her recovery more than you already have."

"Compromise her recovery? It's not like she's been doing any better all! _She_," he spat, clearly wanting to say something less complimentary, "is still _fawning_ over that traitor!"

"You already know that her emotional status is unstable. What you are doing, what you did, is not helping. I know you want to talk to her about Aizen."

"Yeah, so? She needs to hear it."

"And she has. Multiple times. It won't work. She does not need to have another episode. All it does is make her emotional tumult even worse."

James paused. "Episode?"

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed. "Yes. If you mention anything bad about Aizen she can become either wildly violent or depressed. We even had to put her on suicide watch for a time after one of these episodes."

"That doesn't excuse her."

"No it doesn't. But she's not even aware that anything is wrong. I doubt she is aware of herself at all when she has these reactions. She's _sick_, James. She doesn't try to intentionally hurt anyone; least of all myself."

James sighed, feeling the anger over the past week drain away. He was tired of arguing. "I understand," he said quietly.

But that didn't mean that he'd forgive her. Or apologize.

"Good," Hitsugaya nodded at him, and rapped sharply on the door. "Matsumoto!"

There was no reply. "…Matsumoto?"

Again there was no reply. "Matsumoto, you can open the door now!"

There was silence for a few minutes before James spoke up. "You don't think she forgot about us do you?"

"MATSUMOTO!"

* * *

A/N I personally don't mind Hinamori. She was mislead by Aizen and wasn't strong enough to handle the stress of his betrayal, but I don't think she's really a bad person. She loved her captain more than anything, and perhaps she didn't realize how wrong her depth of devotion was, but she's not terrible. Misguided, mislead, but not evil or anything.

Uh, don't take James's attitude too harshly either. If I were in his position, I'd be pretty pissed too…

So, this concludes the first major confrontation between Hitsugaya and his family. I mean, they've mostly been staying out of each others' way so far, haven't they? …Oops. This chapter was actually supposed to be lighter for the most part but I think I screwed that up a bit… -_-; In any case, break supposedly starts a week before Christmas, if that helps you timeline this chapter a bit. I decided to bump the actual Christmas chapter to Chapter Ten because it wouldn't have fit here. That means that some more serious stuff might happen afterwards (I dunno. I haven't outlined the next chapter yet.), but at least the holiday itself will be happy, because that's not the way it was initially turning out.

SRS Just so you know, I wasn't happy when I read this chapter the first time. (It wasn't finished and I was promised a Happy Christmas.) Now I'm better!


	11. Chapter 10

A/N Oh, boy. It took forever and my sister to get inspiration for this chapter. It just wasn't coming.

Another thing; to understand some of this chapter you're going to have to completely ignore the Black House from the movie. In the book, the Blacks were some of the most well-respected purebloods, so I'm assuming they had a manor. All descriptions will be based off of a grand and spacious manor, if a bit run down. Not the tiny, cramped thing from the movie.

* * *

Chapter Ten

* * *

"MATSUMOTO!"

Hitsugaya stared in irritated silence at the locked door. James, behind him, looked like he didn't know whether to be annoyed or amused.

He waited a minute. Nothing happened.

He sighed, figuring that Matsumoto just wasn't going to come. Well, if she wasn't going to unlock the door for him, he'd do the next best thing.

He broke the door down.

Using kido to open a door may have been overkill, but Hitsugaya didn't give a damn. It wasn't like Sirius liked his house anyway, so he might as well take advantage of it.

The loud crash and flare of reiatsu inevitably attracted the rest of the household's attention. That was good, because that meant that he didn't have to track Matsumoto down. Not that it would be difficult, but he didn't feel like wasting more energy on her than he had to at the moment.

She ran down with the others, though she was far less concerned as she had recognized his reiatsu.

"Matsumoto…"

She smiled angelically at him. "Yes, taicho?"

"If you ever do something like this again, I swear you'll be buried under enough paperwork that you won't see the sun in _decades_!"

Matsumoto laughed nervously and escaped before he could say anything else. The Weasleys, seeing that nothing too unusual (for him, anyway) was going on, filtered out of the hallway. Black stayed behind, staring at the broken door with an odd look on his face.

"You know," he said. "As much as I love this house (not), you are _so_ paying for that."

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. The house was still practically falling apart after a decade of non-use. Slapping on an old piece of wood would probably have an equivalent value to the old door anyway.

Black must have noticed what was crossing his mind. "I don't want money for a new door or anything," he interjected hastily. "But seriously, tell me what the heck Shiro-chan means!"

* * *

Christmas morning started bright and early and with a bang; literally, as the Weasley twins set off no less than a dozen fireworks around the manor. Needless to say, they wanted an early start on their presents. Unfortunately for them, their mother was less-than-forgiving for the early wake-up call. They'd be opening their presents last, and only after everyone was awake (not that it hadn't already happened, considering the noise) and had breakfast. The looks on their faces as their mother said this were priceless.

But really, four-thirty in the morning was too early, even for Christmas. Not even James and Sirius were that excited.

So it was that a tired household trooped into the kitchen, waking up only slightly at the wonderful smells produced by a surprisingly awake Mrs. Weasley. It was only after the majority of everyone else had ingested a large amount of coffee that anyone was aware enough to hold proper conversations. So it was a surprise when Sirius suddenly bounded out of his chair, seemingly full of energy and clearly excited about something.

"Jamie, come here! I have the best idea!"

James, curious, followed Sirius out of the kitchen. The twins made to follow but were stopped short by their mother's glower. They weren't off the hook quite yet.

A good twenty minutes later saw the Weasleys, Hermione, Lily, Remus, Hinamori, Matsumoto, and Hitsugaya all staring kind of stupidly at Prongs and Sirius, who had called them to the living room. The twins were the first to give in to their laughter, followed shortly by Remus, Matsumoto, Hinamori, and the rest of the Weasleys. Hermione and Lily giggled and traded long-suffering looks, while Hitsugaya just watched the two idiots make fools of themselves.

The great stag that was James's animagus form was standing proudly in the center, decked out in bells and holly and strapped to an enchanted sleigh that was just as gaudily decorated. Sirius, for it could be no one else, was dressed in a Santa outfit (including a fat suit) with everyone's presents slung over his shoulder in a big red sack. He looked ridiculous with a long and very clearly fake beard.

But what really got everyone going was the bright red light attached to Prongs' nose.

Sirius laughed a deep 'Ho, ho, ho' as loud as he could, followed by a shouted "Happy Christmas! You there," he pointed at a random Weasley, which happened to be Ginny, "would you like a ride in Santa's sleigh?"

She giggled. "Why yes, Santa! Do I get my presents?"

Sirius laughed again and reached into the bag, pulling out one of Ginny's presents. "Of course! What's Christmas without presents?"

Ginny smiled and hopped into the sleigh. There was a pause as everyone waited for something to happen, and Prongs and Sirius glanced at each other.

"Uh," Sirius said, no longer imitating Santa's voice, "maybe we should go outside first?"

* * *

Everyone got a turn on 'Santa's' sleigh, even Hinamori and Hitsugaya, though Prongs had consented to pulling the girl around only because he didn't want to ruin Christmas for anyone else, and Hitsugaya had only consented to getting pulled around because Hinamori and Matsumoto had literally dragged him on.

It had been fun. The manor's grounds were spacious enough that the ride could go on for a while, at speeds that wouldn't have been possible in confined spaces. So nearly everyone went in with a smile on his or her face, cheeks red with cold. Nearly, because Hitsugaya wasn't about to smile at anybody, though he had enjoyed the snow, if not the sleigh ride.

As the group trooped back inside, Black re-deposited the presents under the massive pine tree. Hitsugaya wasn't even sure why he had taken them in the first place; he hadn't handed them out or anything, just put them in a bag. To add to his costume, perhaps? He honestly didn't see the point.

James walked in after everyone else as a human, bells and holly still adorning his form. Even the red nose was still there. It made for an interesting sight before he simply vanished the additions with a spell.

Hitsugaya hung back as the Weasley children, Marauders, and Matsumoto descended on their presents like a pack of hungry wolves. Fred and George were especially eager, as their mother had forgotten her earlier punishment in all the excitement. Therefore, instead of last, they managed to get to their presents first, tearing them open with glee.

The pair of them were seventeen. They were far too old to be behaving like that. Then again, Hitsugaya mused, they weren't the only ones. Black and James were actually _faster_, and far less neat with opening gifts.

Lily sighed in fond exasperation, starting on her own pile of presents with Hermione. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed to share Lily's amusement as they carefully maneuvered around their brood to get their own presents; hopefully with all limbs intact. Hinamori happily joined in the festivities, handing out presents (though Hitsugaya had no idea how she had known to get any for the wizards in the first place; Matsumoto, maybe?) as well as opening hers.

Hitsugaya finally got to work on his own pile, opening his gifts with the same obsessive neatness he had displayed on his 'birthday' and eyeing the mess the others were making in distaste. Matsumoto rolled her eyes at him, used to this sort of behavior from her captain.

Hitsugaya froze as Hinamori pulled out another gift, this time walking deliberately toward James. This could not possibly end well.

* * *

James was thinking along the same lines as Hitsugaya, though he didn't know it. He watched the girl advance warily, noticing vaguely that everyone else seemed to be keeping a careful eye on the both of them. Hitsugaya seemed torn between letting things play out and stopping his 'sister' from approaching. Before he could decide on either option, however, Hinamori had already advanced.

"Potter-kun," she murmured apprehensively, "here." She handed him a delicately wrapped present, and James slowly took the gift.

"Uh, thanks," he muttered grudgingly. She didn't seem to notice, instead smiling and grabbing another gift for someone else. He breathed a silent sigh of relief, then froze.

Oh shit. Hitsugaya was probably going to kill him if he made her upset, and he didn't have a return gift. He stood, the sudden movement gaining everyone's attention. "Bathroom," he lied, double-timing it to the stairs. He practically dove into his and Lily's room, throwing things haphazardly to the floor as he searched for something suitable to give to the girl.

He paused mid-throw as something occurred to him. Was he, or was he not a wizard? Kind of, anyway. He just didn't have any magic. But still! He could just conjure something. After all, transfiguration was his favorite subject. He knew all the spells to conjure something permanent.

Out of habit he brought out his fake wand, an incantation on his lips. What could he make for her? What did girls like Hinamori even like? Hurriedly, he decided on a stuffed animal. Couldn't go wrong there. So it was that he created a fuzzy teddy bear (and, as a joke, made it white with teal eyes) with a big bow, casting a couple of quick charms to make it squeak when squeezed and make sure it wouldn't just spontaneously disappear.

After he was finished, he surveyed his work with pride. Hell, if _he _were a girl, he'd love it. He conjured a box and some wrapping paper (not bothering to make them permanent; they'd most likely be thrown away anyway) and stuffed the bear inside.

As James made his way back downstairs he wondered why the girl had even bothered giving him a present in the first place. He hadn't exactly been on stellar behavior around her; he didn't even like her! James sighed, clutching the box in his hands tightly.

"James!" He blinked. Sirius? "Some trip to the bathroom. I was about to go make sure you hadn't drowned!"

James scowled. "Shut it, Padfoot. I'm not the one who drinks from the toilet." He scanned the room for the Fifth Division's vice captain, ignoring Sirius' indignant sputter and spotting her sitting next to Hitsugaya. He walked over, not in any particular hurry, and handed her the gift. "Here."

She smiled brightly at him. "Thank-you, Potter-kun!" She tore open the wrapping paper and opened the box, discarding them in the giant pile of garbage building up in the corner of the room. She gasped at what was inside, then giggled. "Oh, it's so cute! Thank-you," she said again, this time sounding more heartfelt.

Hitsugaya looked at the bear, bemused and somewhat offended.

As he watched Hinamori act like the child she appeared to be, he couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for how he had treated her. Then he remembered Aizen and felt justified all over again. He sighed again. "You're welcome."

James froze in shock as she got up and hugged him, withdrawing before he could react. She didn't seem to notice his surprise as she simply turned back to Hitsugaya, chatting away happily.

James stared for a full minute before heading toward Lily.

He couldn't forgive her, but maybe he wouldn't be so harsh either.

* * *

As James got ready for bed that night he couldn't help the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something. A few seconds later there was a loud shriek and he knew.

"James! Get your ass in here! What did you do to our room?"

Oops.

* * *

The next day Hitsugaya felt oddly relaxed. Of course, it could be because both Matsumoto and Hinamori had gone back to Soul Society; they had only stayed for Christmas before going back to work. This meant that it was quiet and peaceful for the first time in quite a while.

He really should have known that it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Bill Weasley came charging into Grimmauld Place with all the grace of a rampaging buffalo. He had gone back to work early as well; his job at Gringotts was demanding, as the goblins themselves were notoriously hard working. So what on earth was he doing, running in here so quickly?

The curse-breaker stopped a moment to catch his breath before saying, "You'll never guess who I saw at Gringotts!"

Curiosity piqued, Hitsugaya asked, "Who?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange."

That made everyone present stop what they were doing and stare at the oldest Weasley child.

"What?" Black choked out, looking faintly nauseous at the thought of his Death Eater cousin.

"I was working down in the Pureblood's vault section when she came in. She was in a right state, too; kept screeching at this poor goblin about something of her master's. Not sure what she was on about, but whatever it was, I think it's important."

"How could a Death Eater just waltz right into Gringotts?" Ron asked, frowning.

Black grinned. "Makes sense, actually. Any goblin owned territory is strictly neutral. They'll let anyone access the bank; Death Eaters, convicts, the regular upstanding citizen. That's how I got Harry's Firebolt for him in his third year."

"Anyway," Bill continued, "I think something has her worried about the item's security. She said that 'My master will kill me if it is not safe, you imbecile. I want my vault the most secure it can possibly be!' I believe were her exact words."

Lupin frowned. "So you want us to check it out? Goblins are notorious for both their security and privacy. There's no way were going to be accessing any records to see what's in there."

"Then the only thing to do is break in!" Black exclaimed.

"Stop and _think_ for a moment, idiot," Hitsugaya interrupted. "We can't just break in to one of the most secure locations in Britain for something that we have no idea what it does or even looks like. And don't you think it suspicious that Bellatrix Lestrange herself was there at the same time as Weasley? We could very well be walking straight into a trap."

Black shook his head. "But whatever this thing is, it's important enough that Voldemort will kill one of his most loyal and dangerous followers if it's taken or damaged. And it can't be a trap. Fighting in neutral territory is punishable by death in both goblin and wizarding law. The Death Eater's might cross the Ministry, but they need the goblins on their side, or at least willing to work with them."

Hitsugaya looked unconvinced. "Look," Black said, "what if it turns out to be one of the Horcruxes? This could be really important. I say we go have a look, at least."

"Oh, yes, because breaking into a Pureblood's vault, which will undoubtedly have an enormous number of things in it, without any idea of what we're looking for, is a fantastic idea," he snapped sarcastically. And really, what were the odds of it being a Horcrux? Though the idea was admittedly appealing, however unlikely.

Black ignored the sarcasm. "Exactly!"

Lily gave him a flat look. "Sirius, only you would find this a good idea. There aren't enough of us to go on half-cocked missions based on so little evidence."

Lupin gazed at them both. "Actually…"

The fireplace flared emerald, drawing everyone's attention away from the argument. Kingsley ran inside. "Death Eaters are attacking the Ministry! They brought the Hollows, too. Everyone hurry through before they close the floo network!"

The eldest Weasley child nodded. "We can take this up with Dumbledore later, guys."

They all filed through the fireplace; the Weasleys, Lupin, and Lily (after discarding her gigai) heading through first. Black would need to stay behind. As a convicted criminal, he could not be seen, especially at the Ministry during an attack. James and Hitsugaya (both copying Lily) went through last, both turning to glare at Ron, Ginny, and Hermione.

"Stay here," James said. "We can't afford to babysit you now."

"Black," Hitsugaya added, "make sure they stay. You don't go running off, either."

* * *

Cornelius Fudge, current Minister of Magic, rubbed his hands together anxiously, making himself as small as possible behind his grand desk. He couldn't deal with this! He was a politician, not an auror. This whole business with the Dark Lord was distressing in the extreme.

His thought proved to be all too true as alarms started blaring their shrill warning. The Ministry was under attack!

Fudge paled, shrinking even more. Death Eaters, here? What could they possibly want after last year?

A random auror ran into the room. Fudge looked at him like he was insane. "What are you doing, fool? Close the door! What if a Death Eater gets in here?"

The auror shot him a contemptuous look. "Minister, for your own safety you are going to have to be moved to the Ministry's secured rooms. Please follow me."

"W-what?" Fudge stammered. "Why leave here? It's safe here, isn't it?" The very idea that his office wasn't the most secure room in the building was terrifying. When this was all over, he was going to have to rectify that… and see to it that whoever was in charge of planning the original wards was fired.

"Minister!" The auror exclaimed impatiently. "We need to hurry!"

"Oh, yes… Of course." Fudge followed the auror out, making a mental note to have words with his superior about his behavior later. Honestly, who did he think he was talking to?

The auror led Fudge through a long series of twists and turns, finally stopping at the end of a long corridor. Fudge didn't even recognize the area.

"A-are you sure that this is it?" he asked nervously.

"Of course," the auror said, drawing his wand.

"What are you doing? Casting more wards? I thought this room was supposed to be safe!"

"Well it is," the auror replied impatiently. "For me. I wouldn't want to be implicated, after all."

Fudge felt a distinctly sickly feeling building in the pit of his stomach. "W-what do you m-mean?"

"I mean," the auror went on haughtily, "that you are no longer of any use to us. Had it not been for your incompetence, the Dark Lord would still be hidden. Though he does thank you for the extra year. For that you will be granted a quick death."

Fudge backed away, stumbling over his robes and falling harshly to the floor.

"But the Dark Lord does not tolerate failure. Good-bye, _Minister_. Avada Kedavra!"

"N-n-no! W-wait!"

The last thing Cornelius Fudge saw was a bright flash of green light.

* * *

A/N Oral surgery is awesome, no? Yeah, so I just got some. And while I think I should be majorly cranky, for some reason I'm kind of hyper. Bleh. Anyway, hope you liked that chapter!

SRS She's not on any pain medication either. Amazing huh?


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: I'm alliiiiiiiiveeee! And finally have an update for you. I know it's been forever, but this was on hiatus for a reason. Still, hope you like it... OMG what happened to my formatting? All of my other chapters... squished... Ok, I'm going back and fixing it, however all of my documents will be from my files, not fanfiction's. IF YOU FIND ANY FORMATTING OR SPELLING OR DETAIL ERRORS AT ALL IN THE PRIOR CHAPTERS BECAUSE OF THIS PLEASE NOTIFY ME! And then I shall fix it.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

* * *

By the time the shinigami, Lupin, and the Weasleys arrived, the Ministry was in complete chaos. It was lucky that the floo hadn't been sealed by the time they had gotten through.

Hitsugaya grasped Hyourinmaru, adjusting his stance. He could already sense the presence of numerous hollows. There were dozens of them, he could tell.

"James, take a few people with you and cover the right wing. Lily, you take the left. Try to get all of the hollows on the lower floors first. Make sure no one but the Order sees you. I'll meet you at the top." James nodded, running to the right of the building with Bill and Lupin, while Lily took Charlie, Mr. Weasley, and Mrs. Weasley. Hitsugaya ran down the center with the Twins following close behind.

* * *

Percy Weasley held his wand in shaky fingers, trying with all his might to be the Gryffindor the Hat had told him he once was. He wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. Fighting was not what he was good at. He'd left that to his brothers. That was part of the reason he'd started looking into politics in the first place.

A masked, robed figure almost leisurely passed through the corridor, idly firing curses. Walls crumbled and fires sprouted under the Death Eater's command. Clearly he was there to cause as much chaos as possible.

Percy steeled himself for a fight; there weren't any Aurors nearby so he'd have to take care of it himself. Trying to steady his hands, he let loose a stunner in the Death Eater's direction.

It was a weak spell, Percy knew. He had never been a powerful wizard.

The Death Eater turned from his work, lazily casting a shield. It didn't even waver as the stunner hit, staying as solid as a transparent sheet of stone.

"Stupefy!" he tried again. The masked man in front of him didn't even bother to strengthen his shield, letting the second stunner impact it. It flickered slightly, but returned to its powerful solidity less than a second later.

"Is this all you can do, blood-traitor?" He asked. "I've got better things to do than waste my time on weak, pathetic wizards such as you."

Percy flushed angrily. That comment had mirrored his previous thoughts far too closely for comfort.

"Reducto!" Another jet of red light was released from his wand, this one brighter than the previous two.

The shield shook, then broke apart slowly, pieces of it falling to the floor.

The Death Eater glanced down at the fading light, still clearly unimpressed. "So you can cast a spell or two. Oh well. It won't help you anyway."

Percy tensed as the Death Eater raised his wand, swirling sparks of energy gathered at the tip. There was no room to dodge in the small hallway. "Protego!"

"Avada…"

The corridor shook as a section of it blew inward, pieces of the ceiling toppling to the ground. The Death Eater jumped back, forced to abandon his spell.

"Perce!"

Percy's eyes widened. "Fred, is that you?"

"'Course not, it's George!"

Percy nearly sighed in relief. His brothers were here. The twins jumped through the hole they had created in the wall. "You're here by yourself?" he asked, curious despite himself. Where was everyone else?

"Not really…"

"We were here with another Order member…"

"But we couldn't keep up with him…"

"So we decided to stay down here a bit longer…"

"And here we are!"

He nodded, then looked back at where the ceiling had collapsed. Had the Death Eater been caught under that or was he waiting on the other side? He shook his head. It didn't matter; they couldn't get over there at the moment. And anyway…

"Thanks," he muttered.

Fred and George just gave him identical shit-eating grins. "No problem, Perce!" They looked at him shrewdly. "Anything for family, right?"

For the first time in a long time, Percy felt a true smile forming on his features. "Yeah…"

* * *

Sirius Black was upset. He was a grown man, fully capable of taking care of himself. And what had happened? His best friend and his captain/son had both acted like he was incapable of taking out a few Death Eaters.

He'd been on the run for years. He knew how to be inconspicuous, even in a firefight. Hell, he probably knew how better than the rest of the Order did.

It wasn't that difficult. A hood, a couple of sticking and obscuring charms, and presto! Instant disguise.

But what truly galled him was that they had ordered him to stay; marked him as useless because of his status as an escaped convict.

Sirius growled low in his throat, the sound catching the attention of the remaining occupants of the house. Ron and Hermione both looked like they couldn't stand waiting around, but Sirius knew that was what they would do. After the chewing out they'd gotten last time, he supposed it was for the best. Ginny, however, was looking rebellious and slightly insulted; it was the same look he imagined was on his face as well.

He growled again and stood. "You three, stay here." He made his way over to the fireplace, cursing when it didn't connect to the Ministry. He stomped in the general direction of the exit.

Hermione glanced at him. "And where do you think you're going?"

Sirius pursed his lips. "I'm going to go help, whether they like it or not. I'm a fully capable wizard, dammit."

The girl looked down. "That's what we thought."

"I'm thirty-six. Not sixteen."

"You've also been in prison for over a decade," Ron pointed out.

Ginny frowned. "So? He's a member of the Order too, isn't he? It's his right to be able to help his friends when he needs to."

Hermione shook her head. "Sirius, please sit down. They only want to make sure you don't go back to Azkaban."

Sirius sighed, but realized there wasn't a way to get to the battle quickly enough to be of any use. "Fine." If the floo was blocked, there was no way he was going to be able to apparate anywhere near the Ministry, either. By the time he got there the battle would probably be over.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to rip James a new one when he got back, though.

* * *

"Iki o Suru, Tatsumaki!"

James swung the comforting weight of his zanpakuto in a wide arc, slicing through a hollow's arm and causing it to roar in surprised pain. His wand was in his other hand, but he couldn't concentrate on casting spells at the same time. That left the Death Eaters to Bill and Remus. Luckily, they didn't seem to be having too many problems fighting off the dark wizards.

The wounded hollow reared and struck with a secondary set of arms, each bearing claws at least half a meter long. James dodged backward, swinging Tatsumaki and releasing a wave of compressed air. The air struck, colliding with the hollow's mask and crushing it.

"Holy crap," he bit out as another swiftly took the defeated hollow's place, "how many are there?" How was Voldemort gaining so many followers so quickly?

Twisting aside, James ran his blade through the hollow's mask. He had to try not to use any more of his zanpakuto's abilities. He was running out of energy, fast.

"James!"

The former wizard spun, catching sight of another hollow towering over Bill and Remus who, without the reiatsu to combat it, were helpless. Flash-stepping, he caught the beast's claws with his blade and gave a quick counter-strike. That had been too close. They needed to end this. But how?

He hoped Lily and Higsugaya were having more luck than he was.

* * *

Lily was not having quite as easy of a time as her husband. Her zanpakuto, unlike James', was far more suited to healing. She did, however, know how to kill a hollow without the use of extra abilities. What's more, she knew how to do so better than James.

Darting forward Lily dodged under a massive claw, striking upwards and cleaving through the lizard-like hollow. Partially spinning to gain momentum, she struck again, cutting the mask in two.

Flipping a lock of red hair over her shoulder, she scanned the hall for enemies, but it was almost eerily quiet.

"By Merlin…" Arthur gasped, holding open a door. Molly's hands flew to her mouth and Charlie looked ill.

Lily gently nudged Arthur aside, eyes widening when she caught sight of what was inside. The minister was clearly dead, but worse than that was the hollow hovering over the body, licking blood off its jaws. Fudge's soul hadn't made it to safety.

The hollow, shaped vaguely like a spider, grinned and let its reiatsu flare. Lily's knees buckled and the Weasleys collapsed.

Adjuchas…

* * *

Flashes of light seared through the stairwell as combatants tried to aim at each other. A few of the Ministry's Aurors had joined in the fight, adding manpower and confusion both. Hitsugaya flash-stepped around them all, quickly enough that they wouldn't be able to catch a glimpse of his ghost-like form.

At the top of the stairwell a man was furiously shouting orders at his fellow Aurors, gold piping on his uniform designating a higher rank. His graying hair flew about his face in a wild mane, which he impatiently brushed aside.

Rushing off at inhuman speeds, Hitsugaya bypassed the man and went up another floor. Oddly there had been no signs of any hollows yet, though he could sense the ones Lily and James were fighting. There were however, quite a few Death Eaters; some upturning desks and tearing open filing cabinets, others scrabbling through loose papers on the floor.

After a quick mental debate Hitsugaya soundlessly slipped by the Death Eaters as well. Whatever they were after, the hollows took priority. And they wouldn't be able to search for long; the Auror he had seen was heading back this way, having defeated the Death Eaters in the stairwell.

A sudden flare of reiatsu made him pause, turning automatically to the direction Lily had gone. An adjuchas? What was a hollow of that level doing here? As yet, Voldemort had only been able to control weaker ones.

It was then that he recalled something particularly important. Lily, a 14th seat medical shinigami, was not anywhere near ready to face an adjuchas. If he didn't hurry, the hollow would kill her…

A few quick flash-steps had him hurtling back downstairs and to the left wing of the building, barely missing furious red eyes gleaming in the shadows behind him.

* * *

Block, parry, dodge, _guard._ It was all Lily could do to keep the powerful beast off of herself, let alone the three wizards behind her. "Get away, you three!" she snapped, swinging Shokubutsuen in a quick counterstrike. The blade connected harshly with pale hide, barely scratching the hollow's thick carapace.

She felt the wizards hastily exit the room, knowing they wouldn't be any help without reiatsu. Her moment of inattention cost her as two of the hollow's seven legs slipped under her guard and struck her side. Gasping in pain, she hacked inelegantly at the monster's legs with Shokubutsuen but did little damage.

It leered at her and stretched its jaws wide, wider, then so wide that its lower jaw… fell… off?

A white blur had streaked through so fast that she had barely seen it, and a flash of silver had the hollow cut in half, body collapsing to the floor and dissolving in a cloud of black.

"Hitsugaya!" she gasped out.

"Lily. Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine," she replied. "Just give me a moment. Sakaeru (Thrive), Shokubutsuen! (Botanical Garden!)" Flowers burst through the floor, pollen blowing off of each in a nonexistent wind. The tiny yellow particles landed on her wounds and slowly they started to knit back together. In a few minutes, all that would be left was a scar. But that was about all she'd have the energy for.

"The battle is starting to wind down," Hitsugaya said, frowning. "The Death Eaters are starting to retreat. We should too, before any of the wizards see us."

Lily nodded, standing with a wince.

"I'll contact the order and James," he added, and promptly chanted the kido that would allow him to speak to them all simultaneously. Orders given, they all exited the Ministry as discretely as possible.

* * *

Immediately upon their arrival back at Grimmauld they were besieged by impatient questions. Well, James, Lily, and the Weasleys were, anyway. The children and Sirius were quick to back away from Hitsugaya's frigid glare.

James shook his head and pulled his family aside. Lily looked tired and Hitsugaya was plainly irritated, but they followed nonetheless.

"Are you two alright?" he asked. "I felt the adjuchas. What was it doing there?"

"We're fine, but I don't know," Lily answered wearily. "I didn't think Voldemort was powerful enough to control anything but the lesser hollows."

"We need to finish him off before he grows any stronger," Hitsugaya cut in, running a frustrated hand through his hair.

"But how?" James asked. "We still need to find his last two horcruxes."

"The snake, Nagini, is always with Voldemort, right? We find him, we find the snake. It's the other one that we need to worry about," Lily said.

Hitsugaya frowned. "Get Black and Weasley – I mean Bill – over here."

"Why?" James asked, even as he turned away.

"Because this Lestrange's vault is the only clue we have. We need to find a way to get in there, and they have the tools we'll need."

* * *

In the end, the meeting with Black and Weasley had to wait, as the rest of the Order filed in for a meeting. The attack was explained in detail, and a few of the Order members cheered.

"So you kicked him out?" Tonks asked gleefully. She was there as it was her day off, unlike Shacklebolt, who was at the Ministry helping with the cleanup.

"Not necessarily," Hitsugaya replied. When all he got were confused looks he explained, "The Death Eaters were looking for something. The hollows were just a distraction meant to draw our attention away from the Auror offices and the Record-Keeper offices. They weren't planning to take over the Ministry."

James and Lily glanced at him. This was news to them.

Hitsugaya shrugged. "The area around those offices was empty save for Death Eaters. It wasn't hard to figure out."

"So what were they after?" Lupin asked, frowning slightly.

"I don't know. But they most likely got it. We weren't actually winning the battle when they retreated."

"Could it have been about you? Voldemort's prone to overreacting whenever he hears anything about Harry Potter." Black added.

Dumbledore sighed from his place at the head of the table. "It's likely," he admitted. "Hitsugaya-taicho, were you seen by anyone?"

He shook his head. "I don't think so."

The aging wizard hummed in thought. "Very well. Now, I believe you had something else you wished to discuss?"

Hitsugaya blinked. The only other thing they had to talk about was Gringotts… "Yes. Weasley… Bill, if you would tell the Order what you heard today."

Bill recounted his encounter with Lestrange, sending the Order into loud whispers and mutters.

"It's a trap," Moody growled insistently. "Too much of a coincidence."

The captain crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, content to let the Order hash things out for a few minutes before he said anything.

"But if it's really important as Bellatrix said it is then it's something we need to get rid of," Black pointed out.

"Oh, right, and what're we gonna do then? Break into Gringotts? The goblins are neutral; they won't do anything for us," Tonks retorted sarcastically.

"Finally, someone agrees with me!" Black ignored his cousin's tone.

"I believe," Dumbledore started, instantly silencing the commotion, "that there is one item in particular we believe could be within the vault." He peered over his glasses at Hitsugaya, who nodded. It wasn't really in his nature to be so rash (disregarding certain instances with Hinamori), but if Voldemort was strong enough to control adjuchas, then the rate he was gaining power was alarming enough to necessitate a certain amount of haste.

"Yes. If it's what I suspect it is, than this particular item is vital to the destruction of Voldemort," he said simply, ignoring the flinches the name caused. "Bill, we're going to need as much of the layout of Gringotts as is feasible. Everyone else, I don't care if you object or not, but I want all of you to bring suggestions for this operation by the next Order meeting. It is then that we will finalize the plan. _No one_ is to alert the goblins in _any_ manner," he said sharply.

Dumbledore smiled amusedly in the ensuing astonishment. Despite Hitsugaya's rank, none of them had actually heard him give any sort of command before, and the demand was a bit startling. Black just looked surprised that Hitsugaya had changed his mind.

"I can see that these next few weeks will indeed be busy ones," he addressed the Order calmly. "Therefore it is my suggestion that we all get some rest. Good night." Rising from his chair, he vanished into the fireplace, the rest of those staying at Hogwarts following swiftly behind.


	13. Chapter 12

A/N: Um, I know it's been a ridiculously long time since I updated. Anyway, here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Twelve

Hitsugaya glared down at the stack of papers he was sorting through, mind not really on the tedious paperwork Matsumoto had pawned off on him before she'd returned to Soul Society. How exactly did one go about breaking into a bank? Something like this would be better left to Soifon or the Onmitsukido. Hitsugaya didn't have the kind of experience needed for infiltration, from either of his lives.

He shifted on the old armchair in the Black library uncomfortably. Research wouldn't help him much here, and he already had Bill Weasley going over Gringott's layout and defenses.

Thick reiatsu seemed to wash over him, and he glanced up in surprise.

What the hell was _he_ doing here?

The captain rose from his seat and headed toward the entrance, half irritated and half confused. Lily and James joined him in the front room.

"Who is that?" Lily asked, voice soft and eyes wide. James, beside her, was slightly pale. It took a moment for him to realize why, but he merely shook his head and opened the door. The reiatsu pulsed, and even that mild flare nearly sent the couple to their knees. Reiatsu over twice as strong as his own demanded their attention.

"Kurosaki, what the hell are you doing here?"

The redhead scowled. "Top brass heard you were having some trouble with the number of hollows," he said flatly. "They wanted someone familiar with the Wizarding World to come help. Had to be powerful enough to handle adjuchas too, which cuts out pretty much anything below… what, tenth seat? There aren't that many former wizards in the Gotei 13."

Wait, what? "That doesn't really explain why _you're_ here, of all people."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Mom was a witch."

Since _when_? Hitsugaya almost felt cheated. Why hadn't Kurosaki told Seireitei?

Stupid question. If no one in the afterlife had done it before now, why should a living boy only loosely affiliated with them? "…don't you have school?" Or something. Seireitei tried pretty hard to let Kurosaki have as much of a normal life as possible, so he didn't really know what the boy had been up to since the fullbringer incident.

"Took the year off to save for college. I'll be applying this spring. Seireitei pays pretty well for these kinds of missions, don't they?" (1)

Not really. It was probably added compensation for prior services rendered, or some other bullshit excuse. The captains weren't exactly rich (barring Kuchiki, but Hitsugaya didn't think he counted), but they all wanted Kurosaki on their side. Not that they really thought he'd turn on them or anything, but it didn't exactly hurt to show some gratitude every once in a while.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Hitsugaya blinked. He'd almost forgotten James and Lily were there. The former wizard glanced between the captain and the redhead standing casually with them just off the property. "Who are you?"

The redhead blinked. "Kurosaki Ichigo. You're… James Potter, right? And you must be Lily."

They nodded, and Hitsugaya noted with no small amount of concern that James had a mildly star-struck look in his eyes. James had been a seated officer during the War, and all of the seated officers had been fully briefed, though the unranked didn't know anything more than passing details. He quite obviously knew that Kurosaki had been the one to kill Aizen. (2)

Great. If James went all fan-boy on him, he swore dire consequences.

Lily seemed to know what he was thinking, as she shot her husband an exasperated glance. James opened his mouth to speak, but Kurosaki had already turned his attention back to the captain. "You sent word last night about the attack on the ministry and the following meeting. You're not going to be able to take care of hollows while you're at the bank, and you're already having trouble with it while you're at school." He would know. "I can help with a few other things too, I'm sure." At least he knew better than to speak too freely in public… wait.

They'd gotten him briefed and here that quickly? They'd gotten him to _agree _to come here that quickly? There was no way… they must've been working on this for a while.

Hitsugaya sighed. "We shouldn't be discussing these things out here. Let's go inside."

Kurosaki's eyes narrowed. "Go _where_ exactly?"

Crap. The Fidelius. He sighed again. "Wait here, I need to get Dumbledore."

He heard James excitedly start to ask the boy questions, and fleetingly caught the look of complete bewilderment on Kurosaki's face before he made it inside to use the floo. Hitsugaya smirked. Maybe he could just threaten to leave him alone with James whenever he called him 'Toshiro.'

* * *

A few hours later, after introductions had been made and Kurosaki had settled into a room, Hitsugaya felt the substitute's presence approaching the library, where the captain had taken to spending his free time. Someone really should teach Kurosaki how to hide it; Lily and James, despite their approval of the boy, were still doubtlessly unnerved by the hollow taint. Although the Vizards had been accepted back into their former divisions (at least the available ones), neither James nor Lily really had any reason to interact with them, and couldn't possibly be used to such a presence.

"Toshiro?"

Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched. "What is it, Kurosaki? And that's Hitsugaya-taicho to you."

Kurosaki ignored that. "You don't really like James and Lily much, do you?"

Oh no. This was _not_ going to turn into another one of his crusades. Bad enough that he knew about Kusaka; Hitsugaya really did not want Kurosaki to involve himself in this, too. "Is that what they told you?" he asked mildly, inserting just enough ice into the question to serve as a warning. Predictably, that was ignored as well.

"No, they didn't. But it's not hard to read between the lines."

"I thought James was more interested in you," he deflected. He should have known better, really.

Kurosaki snorted. "Don't be stupid, Toshiro. Yeah, he was curious. But you know what? After he got a couple questions in, all he asked about was you." He paused, fiddling with one of the musty tomes as he hovered by a shelf. "He shouldn't be asking me."

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed. "You're right. He shouldn't."

Kurosaki sent him a sharp look. "That's not what I meant and you know it. He should be able to talk to you. Hell, he should already _know_. I can't believe I had to tell them your favorite food was amanatto, you little liar." (3)

"Why?" he cut the substitute off (and how the hell did he know that in the first place?). "They don't need to know me, Kurosaki. They're _not_ my parents."

"Is that what's been bothering you? Toshiro, have they acted like parents in the least? I've barely seen them with you but they definitely weren't treating you like a kid."

His hands clenched and he opened his mouth, but Kurosaki interrupted him before he could start. "I don't care if they're your parents or whatever, that's not my problem. But Toshiro, they _are_ family, whether you like it or not. You shouldn't take that for granted, especially since…" he cut himself off this time and shook his head. _Hinamori's condition_ went unsaid.

"Just think about it, okay? I get that it might not be a good time and all, with everyone so busy with the mission. But Lily-san almost died yesterday." It was hard to miss the flash of pain cross his face, and Hitsugaya was forcibly reminded that Kurosaki had also lost his mother. The redhead slid the book back into its place and left the room without another word.

Hitsugaya remained frozen in his seat, unable to come up with a convincing argument without sounding like a complete bastard. Even to himself.

Hyorinmaru rumbled comfortingly in his mind, but Hitsugaya knew without asking that the dragon agreed.

* * *

By the time the next meeting rolled around, Kurosaki had slid into the normal rhythms of the household, talking easily with the members that drifted through. His relaxed and informal demeanor seemed to have surprised them – they were used to Hitsugaya's aloof professionalism, and Lily and James had been a part of the Order once, so their easy familiarity didn't really count.

Hitsugaya didn't pay it much mind. He'd steered clear of all three of them since his last conversation with the substitute, talking to them only when necessary.

He barely had to glance at Kurosaki to know he was disappointed in him. And why the hell did he even care? It wasn't like the boy had any authority over him.

But it _was_ hard. Every officer in Seireitei respected Kurosaki, if not grudgingly in some cases. Knowing that the man who saved them all found fault in him hurt, no matter what he tried to tell himself.

Hitsugaya sighed, frustrated. It wasn't like Kurosaki was a saint. He had plenty of faults himself. But the way he'd said it…

"_You shouldn't take that for granted… Lily-san almost died yesterday."_

Damn him to Hell.

Dumbledore smiled as he entered the kitchen, his arrival signaling the start of the meeting. It would be the last one for a while most likely; it was already the start of the New Year, and the Potters and students would be heading back to Hogwarts in a few days.

"I take it you have all been following the news?"

Hitsugaya barely resisted the urge to groan. The _Daily Prophet _had headlined the attack on the ministry, of course… but they had also added that several ghosts had been seen aiding the fight. Including two that looked suspiciously like a pair of dead martyrs, meaning James and Lily had been seen in detail.

He supposed he shouldn't be surprised. But still, it complicated things, and Soul Society couldn't just go and modify every witch or wizard's memory if they really caught wind of the afterlife interfering with the living. If they were lucky, this would all be passed off as impossible rumors or the Wizarding World would be too worried about the living to care. Their minister had just been murdered, after all, and their ministry nearly destroyed. They were in a panic.

And what of Voldemort? If he believed that the Potters were all back to haunt him the situation could become really problematic, really quickly.

The discussion went in that vein for a few minutes, with Dumbledore adding that the new minister would likely be Rufus Scrimgeour. They all hoped so anyway, as most of the other candidates were purebloods like Lucius Malfoy, and probably neck deep in Voldemort's camp.

Finally they got to the part they'd all been planning dubiously for over the last few days. Bill Weasley laid out a set of rough, hand drawn schematics.

"Lestrange's vault is in the high-security section of Gringotts." His face scrunched up in slight distaste, as though he didn't really want to continue. "What that means is it's got a dragon guarding it."

A _dragon_? Hyorinmaru stirred in interest. There were really dragons here? Hitsugaya hadn't so much as picked up a Magical Creatures book. He'd been too busy with other things, and never really participated in much conversation with his housemates, so he hadn't known.

He noticed vaguely that he was the only one even remotely excited at the prospect, and forcefully stamped the emotion down. It really wasn't a good thing.

Bill outlined the various wards protecting the high-security vaults, including a particularly strange ward that duplicated items touched without permission by the owner or the goblins. But basically it all boiled down to one thing.

"We need either Bellatrix Lestrange herself, or the help of a goblin to pull it off," Hitsugaya stated plainly.

"So we've got three options then. We break into Gringotts on our own, we secure the aid of the goblins, or we kidnap Bellatrix Lestrange," Tonks' voice was thick with disbelief, and the uneasy mutters that accompanied her statement proved that the rest of the Order was in agreement.

"Dear old cousin Bella would probably be our best bet," Black admitted sourly.

Moody snorted. "So we capture a mad, violent witch hell bent on killing us all and interrogate her or force her to empty her vault for us?"

"Better than asking the goblins. They won't do a damn thing and you know it. Neutrality and money are the only things they really have, and if they help us they're pissing off a whole lot of purebloods. That would kill what little standing in our society they've got, and the last thing we need right now is another goblin war on our hands," James added.

Especially since the goblins had so much grip on the economy. That would be a nightmare. Which brought up another point.

"If we can use Lestrange, then the Order will be at minimal risk. We can't show any affiliation with an organization, or that could spark a war too. We cannot fight a war on two fronts. Either we use Lestrange, or only one of us goes in as an independent thief–"

"We could implicate a Death Eater–"

"A Death Eater breaking into a known Death Eater's vault? The goblins are _not_ that stupid."

Hitsugaya decided it was time to stop the argument from escalating any further. "Unfortunately, Black is correct. Lestrange is our safest option." Which wasn't comforting. Despite, or perhaps because of, her madness, she was an extremely talented witch. "We need to plan her capture. Snape," he added, knowing the man had to listen to him at the meetings at least, "is there any feasible way to ambush her?"

The potions professor's lip curled in distaste, but he answered anyway. "She makes infrequent stops at Diagon Alley to withdraw funds from Gringotts. But she is a wanted criminal. Lestrange rarely leaves the Dark Lord's side otherwise."

"Will you be able to find out when ahead of time?"

"If I am lucky," Snape murmured silkily.

"Even if we do catch her, we can't bring her here," Moody growled.

"This is your only safe-house?" Kurosaki asked in surprise.

"And here I thought you'd been fully briefed," Hitsugaya sniped, pausing when everyone turned to him in bemusement. "The Shrieking Shack," he spat out, embarrassed. Damn the substitute anyway. He could practically feel Dumbledore's eyes twinkling in amusement.

"The Shack? That's not a bad idea," Black muttered.

"You want to bring a known murderer so close to Hogwarts?" McGonagall was appalled.

"It's far enough away. If we station someone in the Shack, then have a regular patrol in the Alley with portkeys, this could work. Nobody would even know anything's amiss – it's 'haunted,' remember?"

"So who gets to live in the Shack?" James piped up. "None of us," he added, referring to the shinigami, "can do it. We all have appearances to make at the school." And the rest of them had lives to live, jobs to go to. It would be hard enough to organize a patrol with enough people to ensure Lestrange wouldn't get away. They needed at least two or three people out there 24/7, so the witch couldn't attack or run off easily. If she did, they wouldn't get another chance.

Hitsugaya looked at Black.

He blinked. "Oh, you're kidding me, right?"

"You're the only one who can't actively patrol the Alley. You're already living at Hogwarts, and this way you won't have to be a dog all the time."

"It was your idea," Kurosaki added lazily from somewhere across the room.

That reminded him. "You can join him, Kurosaki."

"Huh?"

"You don't have a job. You have plenty of time to kill in the Shack while you're here. I thought you wanted to be useful?" He was above childish taunting. This sort of behavior was beneath him. Really.

"My job's to kill hollows."

"The regular patrol can handle the few that appear without Voldemort's influence. And face it, we can't get there to kill the hollows Voldemort summons before he takes them away again." The Dark Lord's guerrilla tactics against the muggles were horribly efficient, and more than a little annoying. "The 12th division can't notify us fast enough to protect single muggle houses all over Europe before they're gone; not even Shihoin is that fast."

"…so what am I doing here?"

Paid vacation? "Back up for when Voldemort makes another move." There would be more than enough hollows for the four of them then, at least. "In any case, Kurosaki, you report to me while you're here. You can split your time between Grimmauld Place and the Shack." He couldn't help the slight hint of malicious pleasure at the look on the substitute's face. The boy was going to be bored to tears sitting around the Shack waiting for the mere possibly to _help_ take down Lestrange, and they both knew it.

Hitsugaya was not above a little payback.

"So that's it. We set up some anti-apparation wards around the Shack, and everyone on the patrols takes a portkey. Don't bother knocking her unconscious if you don't need to – we don't want to cause a scene in the middle of the Alley – just transport her directly there. Black or Kurosaki will provide back up to subdue her if necessary. Snape will keep an ear out for her movements, but we are not going to rely solely on his word." He paused, half-tempted to bark out 'dismissed.' Instead, Dumbledore calmly rose and ended the meeting, saying he would have patrol schedules ready by the end of the week if everyone would be so kind as to let him know when they were available. He didn't seem to mind much that Hitsugaya had taken control of the meeting.

With that, people started filtering out of the room, one or two remaining to give the headmaster their schedules. Kurosaki disappeared somewhere with Black, leaving Hitsugaya with the distinct feeling that he'd made a mistake forcing them to live together for an undefined period of time.

He shook his head, deciding to go convert some more spells into reiatsu-based magic. There was little else he could do, and the Kido Corps would certainly appreciate it later on.

From here, it was a waiting game.

* * *

Yes, I dragged Ichigo into it. Don't worry though, Hitsugaya is still and will always be the central character in this fic. Ichigo will just show up every once in a while.

(1) It's been awhile, so I thought I'd remind you that this is set about three years after the war. That means Ichigo's almost nineteen, and that the lost substitute arc happened over a year prior. I am blatantly ignoring the final holy war arc.

(2) I mentioned earlier in this fic that Ichigo had killed Aizen, as I hadn't read the Decide chapters when I wrote it. That's not going to be edited; in this story Ichigo killed Aizen with Mugetsu.

(3) True, and I had forgotten this when I said Hitsugaya didn't like sweets (which amanatto is). Of course, people seeing him eating sweets could be construed as childish in his mind, so I think he would try to hide it anyway.


End file.
